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Lot Essay
Les paysages dessinés constituent une part importante de l’œuvre du Guerchin qui en produira tout au long de sa carrière. Probablement réalisés sans but précis et par plaisir, ces œuvres ne devinrent jamais des études pour des peintures ni des gravures. C’est au cœur de sa campagne natale de Cento, où il vécut une grande partie de son existence, que le Guerchin dût puiser son inspiration. Il devait également être familier non seulement de l’art du paysage issu de la tradition émilienne du XVIe siècle mais également des paysages de l’école du Nord largement connus à cette époque grâce aux copies réalisées par et d’après des artistes comme Jan van de Velde, Willem Buytewech et Pieter de Molijn. Bien que certains de ses dessins s’inspirent de lieux réels ils ne sont néanmoins pas exactement fidèles à la topographie et semblent bien provenir de son imagination. Le plus grand ensemble de paysages est conservé à la Royal Collection de Windsor. (D. Mahon et N. Turner, The Drawings of Guercino in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen at Windsor Castle, Cambridge 1989, nos. 237-76).
Le présent dessin est un parfait exemple du genre. Dans un décor de falaises et de village, le Guerchin place au premier plan quelques arbres et cailloux épars. La composition s’anime par une famille située en bas à gauche où une jeune femme joue avec son oiseau de compagnie. La composition est caractéristique du style du Guerchin. Le rendu des arbres, de l’architecture et des falaises se retrouvent dans deux paysages du maître, l’un à Windsor (inv. 2609; ibid., no. 250) et le second provenant des collections de Sir Denis Mahon et maintenant à l'Ashmolean Museum d’Oxford (inv. WA2012.96 ; D. Mahon and D. Ekserdian, Guercino Drawings. From the Collections of Denis Mahon and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1986, no. 43, ill.).
Nous remercions Nicholas Turner d’avoir confirmé l’attribution après examen photographique de l'oeuvre.
Landscape drawings form a significant part of the œuvre of Guercino, who produced them throughout much of his career. As these sheets did not serve as studies for paintings or prints, they must have been made solely for the artist’s own enjoyment. Guercino must have drawn inspiration from the surrounding countryside of Cento, where he spent most of his life. Furthermore, he must have been inspired by landscape art from the 16th Century Emilian tradition as well as landscape art from northern countries which were widely known through prints by and after artists like Jan van de Velde, Willem Buytewech and Pieter Molijn. Although some of Guercino's drawings may have been based on actual sites, they are not topographically faithful and indeed, the majority of his drawings seems to be completely founded on the imagination. The largest group of landscape drawings is preserved in the Royal Collection, Windsor (D. Mahon and N. Turner, The Drawings of Guercino in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen at Windsor Castle, Cambridge 1989, nos. 237-76).
This extensive landscape is a particularly charming example; against the backdrop of a cliff and a village in the distance, Guercino arranged a diverse group of trees with scattered pebbles in the foreground. The composition is enlivened by a family in the lower left, of which the woman is playing with her pet bird on a string. The composition is executed in Guercino’s characteristic style and the rendering of the trees, architecture and cliffs is particularly close to that in Landscape with a roadway leading to a gate in a wall at Windsor (inv. 2609; ibid., no. 250, ill) and Landscape with cliffs rising above the sea, previously in the collection of Sir Denis Mahon , now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. WA2012.96; D. Mahon and D. Ekserdian, Guercino Drawings. From the Collections of Denis Mahon and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1986, no. 43, ill.).
We are grateful to Nicholas Turner for confirming the attribution to Guercino on the basis of a digital photograph.
Le présent dessin est un parfait exemple du genre. Dans un décor de falaises et de village, le Guerchin place au premier plan quelques arbres et cailloux épars. La composition s’anime par une famille située en bas à gauche où une jeune femme joue avec son oiseau de compagnie. La composition est caractéristique du style du Guerchin. Le rendu des arbres, de l’architecture et des falaises se retrouvent dans deux paysages du maître, l’un à Windsor (inv. 2609; ibid., no. 250) et le second provenant des collections de Sir Denis Mahon et maintenant à l'Ashmolean Museum d’Oxford (inv. WA2012.96 ; D. Mahon and D. Ekserdian, Guercino Drawings. From the Collections of Denis Mahon and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1986, no. 43, ill.).
Nous remercions Nicholas Turner d’avoir confirmé l’attribution après examen photographique de l'oeuvre.
Landscape drawings form a significant part of the œuvre of Guercino, who produced them throughout much of his career. As these sheets did not serve as studies for paintings or prints, they must have been made solely for the artist’s own enjoyment. Guercino must have drawn inspiration from the surrounding countryside of Cento, where he spent most of his life. Furthermore, he must have been inspired by landscape art from the 16th Century Emilian tradition as well as landscape art from northern countries which were widely known through prints by and after artists like Jan van de Velde, Willem Buytewech and Pieter Molijn. Although some of Guercino's drawings may have been based on actual sites, they are not topographically faithful and indeed, the majority of his drawings seems to be completely founded on the imagination. The largest group of landscape drawings is preserved in the Royal Collection, Windsor (D. Mahon and N. Turner, The Drawings of Guercino in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen at Windsor Castle, Cambridge 1989, nos. 237-76).
This extensive landscape is a particularly charming example; against the backdrop of a cliff and a village in the distance, Guercino arranged a diverse group of trees with scattered pebbles in the foreground. The composition is enlivened by a family in the lower left, of which the woman is playing with her pet bird on a string. The composition is executed in Guercino’s characteristic style and the rendering of the trees, architecture and cliffs is particularly close to that in Landscape with a roadway leading to a gate in a wall at Windsor (inv. 2609; ibid., no. 250, ill) and Landscape with cliffs rising above the sea, previously in the collection of Sir Denis Mahon , now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. WA2012.96; D. Mahon and D. Ekserdian, Guercino Drawings. From the Collections of Denis Mahon and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1986, no. 43, ill.).
We are grateful to Nicholas Turner for confirming the attribution to Guercino on the basis of a digital photograph.
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