Lot Essay
Characteristic of the drawings from the Casa Cennari in Cento is the fact that many of them were laid down on canvas. One hundred and fifty drawings by Guercino were thus laid down, put on stretchers and framed without protective glass, a common way to exhibit drawings in the 17th and 18th centuries. This was done by the nephews of the artist who jealously kept the studio contents from dispersal until the 18th century, D. Mahon and N. Turner, The Drawings of Guercino in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, Cambridge, 1989, pp. XIX-XX. Other Guercino drawings laid down on canvas were sold in these Rooms, 10 January 1996, lot 136, and in the de Boer sale at Christie's, London, 4 July 1995, lot 55, both illustrated.