.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Two entries in Guercino's 'libro dei conti' established precisely when, by whom, for presentation to whom and at what cost this characteristic work of the artist's maturity was executed. The first, recording payment of the deposit, is of 4 March 1637
Dal Sig.r D. Alberto Prouenzali di Cento, si è riceuto schudi 25. per caparra di un Quadro, di Santa Agnese, per l'Em.mo Sig.r Card.l Colonna Schudi 25 -
A final payment was made on 18 June
Dal Sig.re D. Alberto Prouenzali di Cento, si è riceuto schudi quaranta, per intiero pagam. del Quadro della Santa Agnese donato da esso al Em.mo Colonna, dico Schudi 40 L 1 -
Guercino's patron was Don Alberto Provenzali (or Provenzale) of Cento, the artist's home town. Provenzali, or another member of his family, had, as Sir Denis Mahon noted in the 1991 Bologna exhibition catalogue, employed the young Guercino to decorate a frieze in his house at Cento in 1614, and sat for what was evidently one of his first portraits, now lost. Provenzali's choice of a picture by his own townsman was no doubt deliberate, and he must have been aware that such a gift would be acceptable to Cardinal Girolamo Colonna.
Prince Girolamo Colonna (1604-1666), was the son of Filippo, Prince of Pagliano, gran conestabile of the Kingdom of Naples. Educated in Spain, he was appointed Cardinal in 1628. In 1632 he was chosen as Archbishop of Bologna, where his legacy included a new seminary and the rebuilt library. On his father's death in 1639, he succeeded as Prince of Pagliano, where he was responsible for the strengthening of the fortress, regarded as one of the bulwarks of the kingdom. The need to superintend his own estates as well as a desire to be closer to the centre of power may have encouraged Colonna to resign as Archbishop in 1645. He continued to represent the interests of Spain as Cardinal protector, advocating the canonisation of Saint Thomas of Villanova, and became also the Cardinal protector of Germany and the Empire.
Provenzali clearly knew that the Cardinal was interested in pictures. Giovanni Baglione's Vite of 1642 were dedicated to him, and in the same year he purchased the works that remained unfinished in Guido Reni's studio at the time of his death. The Cardinal's enthusiasm for the work of Guercino was surveyed in detail by Mahon in 1991. He was involved in the commission for the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew for the church of S. Martino at Siena (1635-7), a significant commission for a church whose authorities must have been irritated by the fact that Reni took sixteen years to fulfil an earlier altarpiece contract, awarded in 1620. Malvasia (Felsina pittrice) records that the Cardinal saw the picture when the artist was at work on this, and later ordered a copy of it.
In 1635 the Cardinal acquired four works from the artist's brother, Paolo Antonio Barbieri, one of which was a gift from Don Ercole Porzio, archiprete of Cento. On 11 December 1636 Colombano Spiscia made the first of two payments for a Triumph of David (now at Burghley) on the Cardinal's behalf. Entries in the Libro dei Conti shows that Provenzali was not the only Centese patron to realise that gifts of works by Guercino might help to win favours. Thus, on 1 February 1637 he received 40 ducats from the archiprete Porzio for a half-length Saint Paul intended as a gift for the Cardinal. Later on 21 April 1638 the Communità of Cento paid 130 ducats for half-lengths of Painting and Sculpture intended as gifts to Colonna. The Saint Agnes thus can be seen as part of a concerted attempt to win favours for Cento from a powerful and aesthetically committed prelate. A Magdalen paid for by Cardinal Pocci, the legate at Ferrara, in 1639 may also have been intended as a gift to Cardinal Colonna.
Guercino was a committed catholic, who shuddered at the very suggestion of travelling to protestant England. His Saint Agnes is a compelling religious statement. The saint's eyes are turned heavenwards: yet as always Guercino is a realist, as in the way the lamb has turned away from the spectator.
Like many pictures which left the Colonna and other great Roman princely collections as a result of the French occupation of Rome, the Saint Agnes came to England. John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shewsbury (1791-1852), who was a Roman Catholic, first travelled to the continent in 1812. Until he inherited from his uncle in 1827, he and his wife lived partly in Rome, in order to economise. And it was in Rome that he acquired en bloc the collection of Napoleon's mother Laetitia Bonaparte, Madame Mère. From 1837 Shewsbury became the main patron of the gifted catholic architect Augustus Welby Pugin, who worked for him on a series of religious buildings and at Alton Towers, which had already been transformed to accommodate the earl's remarkable collections.
Dal Sig.
A final payment was made on 18 June
Dal Sig.
Guercino's patron was Don Alberto Provenzali (or Provenzale) of Cento, the artist's home town. Provenzali, or another member of his family, had, as Sir Denis Mahon noted in the 1991 Bologna exhibition catalogue, employed the young Guercino to decorate a frieze in his house at Cento in 1614, and sat for what was evidently one of his first portraits, now lost. Provenzali's choice of a picture by his own townsman was no doubt deliberate, and he must have been aware that such a gift would be acceptable to Cardinal Girolamo Colonna.
Prince Girolamo Colonna (1604-1666), was the son of Filippo, Prince of Pagliano, gran conestabile of the Kingdom of Naples. Educated in Spain, he was appointed Cardinal in 1628. In 1632 he was chosen as Archbishop of Bologna, where his legacy included a new seminary and the rebuilt library. On his father's death in 1639, he succeeded as Prince of Pagliano, where he was responsible for the strengthening of the fortress, regarded as one of the bulwarks of the kingdom. The need to superintend his own estates as well as a desire to be closer to the centre of power may have encouraged Colonna to resign as Archbishop in 1645. He continued to represent the interests of Spain as Cardinal protector, advocating the canonisation of Saint Thomas of Villanova, and became also the Cardinal protector of Germany and the Empire.
Provenzali clearly knew that the Cardinal was interested in pictures. Giovanni Baglione's Vite of 1642 were dedicated to him, and in the same year he purchased the works that remained unfinished in Guido Reni's studio at the time of his death. The Cardinal's enthusiasm for the work of Guercino was surveyed in detail by Mahon in 1991. He was involved in the commission for the Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew for the church of S. Martino at Siena (1635-7), a significant commission for a church whose authorities must have been irritated by the fact that Reni took sixteen years to fulfil an earlier altarpiece contract, awarded in 1620. Malvasia (Felsina pittrice) records that the Cardinal saw the picture when the artist was at work on this, and later ordered a copy of it.
In 1635 the Cardinal acquired four works from the artist's brother, Paolo Antonio Barbieri, one of which was a gift from Don Ercole Porzio, archiprete of Cento. On 11 December 1636 Colombano Spiscia made the first of two payments for a Triumph of David (now at Burghley) on the Cardinal's behalf. Entries in the Libro dei Conti shows that Provenzali was not the only Centese patron to realise that gifts of works by Guercino might help to win favours. Thus, on 1 February 1637 he received 40 ducats from the archiprete Porzio for a half-length Saint Paul intended as a gift for the Cardinal. Later on 21 April 1638 the Communità of Cento paid 130 ducats for half-lengths of Painting and Sculpture intended as gifts to Colonna. The Saint Agnes thus can be seen as part of a concerted attempt to win favours for Cento from a powerful and aesthetically committed prelate. A Magdalen paid for by Cardinal Pocci, the legate at Ferrara, in 1639 may also have been intended as a gift to Cardinal Colonna.
Guercino was a committed catholic, who shuddered at the very suggestion of travelling to protestant England. His Saint Agnes is a compelling religious statement. The saint's eyes are turned heavenwards: yet as always Guercino is a realist, as in the way the lamb has turned away from the spectator.
Like many pictures which left the Colonna and other great Roman princely collections as a result of the French occupation of Rome, the Saint Agnes came to England. John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shewsbury (1791-1852), who was a Roman Catholic, first travelled to the continent in 1812. Until he inherited from his uncle in 1827, he and his wife lived partly in Rome, in order to economise. And it was in Rome that he acquired en bloc the collection of Napoleon's mother Laetitia Bonaparte, Madame Mère. From 1837 Shewsbury became the main patron of the gifted catholic architect Augustus Welby Pugin, who worked for him on a series of religious buildings and at Alton Towers, which had already been transformed to accommodate the earl's remarkable collections.