By Anne Leader
Italian Baroque painter Guercino died in Bologna on 22 December 1666. He was 75. At the outset of his career, Guercino painted with dark, brooding colors and strong lights and shadows. After a short stint in Rome in the 1620s, his palette lightened, and his chiaroscuro became more even in response to the classicizing style popularized by the Bolognese artists Annibale Carracci, Domenichino, Lanfranco, and his rival Guido Reni. Upon Reni’s death in 1642, Guercino left his hometown of Cento for Reni’s Bologna where he became the city’s leading painter.
Samson Captured by the Philistines, 1619, oil on canvas. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1984.
Aurora, 1621, fresco, Casino Ludovisi, Rome
Seated Nude Young Man in Nearly Frontal View, ca. 1618, modified black chalk, traces of white gouache highlights, on light brown paper. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, purchase, Rogers Fund and Mr. and Mrs. David M. Tobey Gift, 2004
St Luke Displaying a Painting of the Virgin, 1652-53, oil on canvas, Kansas City: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
Vision of St. Bruno, 1647, oil on canvas, Bologna, Pinacoteca.