called Il Guercino (Cento 1591-1666 Bologna) Saint Joseph and the young Christ in the workshop, c. 1630, red chalk on laid paper, 25,4 x 20 cm, mounted, framed, (Sch)

Provenance: Lorna Lowe & Adolphe Stein, London 1971;
Mr & Mrs George Walker, Banbury.

Exhibited:
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, and Hatton Gallery, Newcastle on Tyne, "Pleasure in Drawings: Old Master and English Drawings from a small Private Collection", 13th Sept. – 2nd Nov. 1980, No.7; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and Central Museum and Art Gallery, Northampton, For the Love of Drawing: Drawings from an Oxfordshire Private Collection, 4th June – 18th August 2002.

The theme of the present drawing is datable to the later years of the artist around 1630; the composition is not related to any known painting by Guercino. Three paintings with Saint Joseph and Christ by the artist are known today. They date from the years 1633 (Mahon 2003, Cat. 14), 1634-35 (Salerno 1988, No. 156) and 1637-38 (Salerno 1988, No. 71). The earliest version of 1633 shows a close-up detail: Christ as a newborn child is holding a rose in his hands which symbolizes his birth, youth and his Passion. In the other versions of around 1634 and 1637 Christ is depicted at the age of a few months. In the painting of 1634 both figures are depicted in full length; their interaction lends the depiction a kind of narrative. The present drawing shows a similar layout of the figures: Saint Joseph is leaning on a cane and kneeling next to the young Christ who is sitting on a table in the workshop. He is holding a small wooden cross in his hand and referring to his Passion. He is looking with questioning eyes to Saint Joseph, who in turn is looking at his son with concerned expression. Guercino dealt with the topic in several drawings; several of them are being preserved in the Devonshire Collection in Chatsworth (Jaffe 1994, p.144, Cat. 564) and in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (WA2012.93). Another sheet was sold in 1979 at Sotheby's in London (Mahon 2003, p. 128). Except for the drawing in Oxford all drawings including the present one were executed in red chalk. It was a technique which Guercino preferred to ink particularly in his later period. It allowed him to provide his figures with softer modelling and with a more subtle nuancing of the tones. The high degree of finish of the drawing may point to an independant study or presumably to a presentation sheet for a commissioner.

We are grateful to Dr. Nicholas Turner for the confirmation of the attribution of the drawing and for the scientific support.

Literature: Luigi Salerno, I Dipinti del Guercino, Rome 1988, p. 246, Cat. 156, p. 258, Cat. 171; Denis Mahon, Massimo Pulini, a. o. (Ed.), Guercino. Poesia e Sentimento nella Pittura del '600, Exh. Cat. Palazzo Reale, Milan 2003, p. 128, Cat. 14; Denis Mahon, David Ekserdjan, a.o. (Ed.), Guercino drawings: from the collections of Denis Mahon and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1986, Cat. 40; Michael Jaffé, The Devonshire Collection of Italian Drawings. Bolognese and Emilian Schools, London 1994, p. 144, Cat. 564.