Cupid restraining Mars,
oil on canvas, 170 x 136 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection;
art market, France;
where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited:
Rome, Castel Sant’Angelo, Il Guercino ritrovato. Quando Amore ferma la Guerra, 23 March–12 June 2011 (as Guercino)

Literature:
Il Guercino ritrovato. Quando Amore ferma la Guerra, ed. by F. Gasparrini/M. Marini, exhibition catalogue, Rome 2011 (as Guercino);
N. Turner, The painting of Guercino. A Revised and Expanded Catalogue raisonné, Rome 2017, p. 650, no. 360 (as by or after Guercino)

The present painting was exhibited in Rome in 2011, as a work by Guercino. Maurizio Marini (see literature) has supposed that the picture might reflect an early idea for the Mars and Cupid, now in the Cincinnati Museum of Art (176.8 x 233.7 cm, no. inv. 1977.96). This painting was probably commissioned by a member of the Mattei family in 1649, possibly Luigi Mattei, Marquess of Belmonte, commander of the papal armies under Popes Urban VIII and Innocent X.

In contrast with the Cincinnati painting, the present painting shows a composition in an upright rather than horizontal format, with Mars striding forwards determinedly, his left arm outstretched and his weapons cast aside. A pentiment can be seen running along the inside of the right leg of the god. As Nicolas Turner observes: “the multiple touches of highlight in the decoration of the armour […] are varied and well painted and seem characteristic of Guercino” (see literature). The canvas may never have been finished, because of the possible refusal of the Matteis, so Guercino would have composed a second painting, with a horizontal format, presumably the one now in Cincinnati. The first version, possibly the present Mars, can be identified with the “enraged Mars restrained by Cupid” that was seen by Carlo Cesare Malvasia among the works that remained in the artist’s house on his death (C. C. Malvasia, Felsina Pittrice Vite de’ pittori bolognesi, Bologna 1678, vol. II, p. 384).

Several beautiful preparatory drawings for this composition have survived. The one in the Courtauld Gallery in London (see fig. 1) shows Mars with his left arm extended forwards, like he has in the present painting. Other drawings depict the god in a different position, as can be seen in a print by Giacomo Giovannini based on Guercino’s composition of the Enraged Mars Restrained by Cupid which resulted from these drawings.