(Cento 1591–1666 Bologna)
The Denial of Saint Peter,
oil on canvas, 134.5 x 190.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Lancellotti Durazzo collection;
European private collection

This is a studio version of the painting commissioned from Guercino by Cardinal Mazarin, paid for in May, 1646, and now in a private collection (L. Salerno, I dipinti del Guercino, Rome, 1988, p. 306, no. 231). Nicholas Turner has suggested that in the face and hair of the figures, most notably in that of Saint Peter, the quality of the brushwork seems superior to the rest of the canvas, and it seems possible that Guercino himself added these final touches to these important details, on which the spectator’s eye first settles. There is evidence of a pentiment at the top of the woman’s head.

The proportions of the present painting picture differ from those of the painting ordered by Cardinal Mazarin, now in a private collection. Not only is the distance between the top of the canvas and the heads of the three protagonists significantly narrower but also the composition extends slightly to each of the two sides. To the left, the swathe of St Peter’s cloak covering his right forearm is seen intact, rather than truncated while less of the crook of the soldier’s arm is cut away by the right-hand edge of the canvas. These changes of format must have originated soon after the prime version of the painting had been carried out, since the handling, palette and chiaroscuro are closely similar, and were no doubt stipulated by a patron for a specific reason.

We are grateful to Nicholas Turner for suggesting the attribution after examining the painting in the original and for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.