ARTS
Exhibitions
Drawings by Guercino from British Collections (British Museum, till 18 August) Guercino in Britain: Paintings from British Collections (National Gallery, till 28 July)
The direct charm of Guercino
Elizabeth Mortimer
Perhaps we should be grateful to Rus- kin, whose strictures on the painters of the seicento were largely responsible for their being lost to view under a welter of medi- aevalising. As a result their work now seems new and fresh, with an exciting sense of discovery as paintings which have hung ignored in old houses are brought out, recognised, restored to glory and sold abroad. This year is the 400th anniversary of the birth of Guercino, whose critical for- tunes are typical. Born Giovanni Francesco Barbieri in the small town of Cento, not far from Bologna, a painter of international renown with important papal commissions in Rome by his early thirties, he was court- ed by kings, queens and an emperor in his lifetime. His work was much sought after in the 18th century, admired by Reynolds and Byron, seized by Napoleon, then all but forgotten by the end of the 19th century. In the mid-1930s he was rediscovered by Sir Denis Mahon, who painstakingly pursued and resuscitated him until now he shines in splendour in a series of exhibitions in Europe and America, which will be crowned by one in Bologna in September. In London a large and varied group of his drawings from British collections is on show at the British Museum, and a smaller selection of paintings also from Britain can be viewed at the National Gallery until the end of this week.
It is always fascinating to see a group of drawings by one artist. The movement of the hand is as personal in this form as it is in writing a letter, the expression of ideas more spontaneous and immediate than in a finished painting. Guercino had no formal training and unlike most of his contempo- raries did not enter the workshop of an established master at an early age, so his style developed from his own enthusiasms. The exhibition at the British Museum is arranged chronologically, apart from the separate categories of landscape and genre, including some funny caricatures, which come at the end. The groups are not too large, the shelves for leaning on are a good height and the works are satisfyingly varied but also recognisably by the same hand. Inspired, no doubt, by the innovating prac- tices of the Carracci school a generation before in Bologna, Guercino set up his own life classes in Cento which were soon well attended, and life drawings of the male nude in oiled charcoal are among the earli- est on show. Some were done as studies for paintings, but others seem to be simple exercises. They are vigorous and confident, with a marked attention to the play of.light and shadow and the occasional clumsiness, like the left hand of the 'Nude Youth Lying on the Ground', which gives comfort to the aspiring draughtsman. The works in pen have tremendous calli- graphic flourishes, draperies Madly flap- ping or plumes springing up in spiralled loops. The washes are freely dabbled on with rich shadows and paler areas where they are suffused with reflected light. Sud- den dark patches occur where a limb lies against a fold of cloth. There are some exquisite chalk drawings, where the soft flesh of children is rendered with supreme delicacy in red or black or both together. Other chalk drawings are studies for single figures and are strikingly robust and solid, like the `Erminia and the Shepherd' which can be seen at the National Gallery. A common feature of many of the ink draw- ings is the concentration on the details of the faces, so that they stand out as blackish in the composition, yet only in one case are both eyes fully described. This may be to do with the ink biting into the paper, yet one is reminded that the nickname of Guercino means 'Little Squinter'; the cast in his eye is clearly visible in a portrait of 1622 by Leoni.
Guercino was both prolific and inventive, and tried many ideas in developing a com- position which are often far removed from the finished result. Sometimes the connec- tion made in the catalogue seems a litte strained, as in the red chalk study of 'Dead Christ with an Angel' which seems very fin- ished and yet very unlike the small painting on copper in the National Gallery exhibi- tion which it is supposed to belong to. One would have liked to see reproductions of the presumed intermediate stages. Among the rare fully worked out studies for a com- position is that of the huge St Petronilla altarpiece for St Peter's. The label engag- ingly says that it is not known why the artist did nut use it as it was, but a glance at the accompanying photograph makes it pretty clear: he had a better idea. That new idea looks very much as if it was inspired by Caravaggio's 'Conversion of St Paul', although for some unexplained reason Guercino supporters are often at pains to prove that Caravaggio had not the slightest Two Seated Women Drying their Hair in Front of a Fire', c. 1630s, by Guercino influence on him, as if Caravaggio's only contribution to art was a novel use of light, and as if Guercino, himself a strong indi- vidualist, would not have been interested in the work of the most original and contro- versial artist of the previous generation.
If, as Ingres said, drawing is three- quarters of painting, we come to the National Gallery well prepared. Yet in keeping with their different functions there is a far more obvious change in style over Guercino's career in the paintings than in the drawings. Much is made of the influ- ence of Rome, where he was summoned in 1621 by his patron Alessandro Ludovisi, Cardinal Archbishop of Bologna, who was elected Pope in that year as Gregory XV. Guercino's 'prima maniera gagliarda' was characterised by its strongly made figures, its lively flickering light (inspired by Ludovico Carracci) and its rich colours and stormy skies (adapted from Titian). His genius combined these elements with high- ly original results, of which several beauti- ful examples are on show. Once having seen Rome, however, Guercino is supposed to have been gradually tamed by the pre- vailing trend towards a sober and logical classicism, and it is true that his composi- tions became more clearly organised. Yet among the works he painted there were two action-packed ceilings, one, the 'Auro- ra', in direct competition with another famous 'Aurora' by the older and suaver Bolognese Guido Reni and in a magnifi- cently unclassical style with dizzying di sotto in sit perspective and thundering cart- horses. Although this group of paintings is necessarily a very small fraction of the painter's output of easel pictures, it is quite choice and varied. It includes small devo- tional works, like the lovely 'Presentation of Jesus in the Temple', which Guercino hung in his own bedroom, and an intrigu- ing 'St John the Baptist Visited in Prison by Salome'. Salome pokes her head through the bars, whether to warn the saint of Herodias's anger or to tell her love we can- not say, but he is not speaking, though his ear strains towards her. A fine oval canvas shows Venus releasing Love from a net to tame the God of War, as Time admonishes him with wagging finger. There are two magnificent sibyls, each with her own spelling and her own style of turban, whose sumptuous robes show why Guercino was regarded as a great colourist.
The particular charm of Guercino's work is its directness. Although his figures are ample and often noble there is a lack of affectation in them and a sympathetic observation, especially in the early works, which is very appealing, and seems to cor- respond to the painter's character. He left Rome after two years and went back to Cento, where he continued to work with the help of his relations, the Gennari fami- ly, refusing invitations from foreign courts, famed for the promptness with which he executed his commissions as well as for their beauty and inventiveness. When Reni died he moved his studio into Bologna, tak- ing over something of his old rival's style as well as his clientele, which was perhaps a pity, though probably the result of modesty rather than adapting to the market. He died so much revered that his nephews, who lacked his genius, were able to live on his reputation for many years aftewards. His return to the halls of fame after a cen- tury of undeserved obscurity gives due cause for celebration.
Giles Auty is unwell.
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