On view
Print and Drawings
Howard Mele Gallery
Howard Mele Gallery
Bust of Bearded Man Wearing a Turban,
ca. 1645–50
Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), 1591–1666; born Cento, Italy; died Bologna, Italy
x1949-62
A prolific draftsman, the painter Guercino made numerous head and bust-length red chalk studies, such as this one, in which he exploits the atmospheric qualities of chalk to dramatize and deepen the shadows, especially in the man’s face. In accessorizing the man with a turban, Guercino exoticizes him—as he does in his portrayals of Old Testament patriarchs and prophets such as Abraham and Isaiah. Whether drawn from life or the imagination, the effect is one of mystery and drama, as the man depicted seems to direct his gaze away from the viewer and beyond the frame.
Comparative Image:
Guercino, Abraham Casting Out Hagar and Ishmael, 1657.
Oil on canvas, 115 × 152 cm. Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
Information
Title
Bust of Bearded Man Wearing a Turban
Dates
ca. 1645–50
Medium
Red chalk
Dimensions
19.6 × 19.4 cm (7 11/16 × 7 5/8 in.)
frame: 54.6 × 42.1 × 3.5 cm (21 1/2 × 16 9/16 × 1 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895
Object Number
x1949-62
Marks/Labels/Seals
Stamp in black ink, on verso, lower left: D.F.P. [in circle] [Lugt 750a]
Reference Numbers
Gibbons 384
Culture
Type
Materials
Subject
Casa Gennari; John Bouverie; Earls of Gainsborough (as noted by Platt on verso; for full provenance, see cat. 57); E. Parsons & Sons, London; purchased in 1924 by Dan Fellows Platt, stamp (L. 750a) verso, lower left, in black.; bequeathed to Princeton University Art Museum, 1949.
- Felton Gibbons, Catalogue of Italian Drawings in The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977)., Vol. 1: pp. 91-92, no. 237 (illustrated in Vol. 2 under the same catalog number)
- David Stone, Guercino, master draftsman: works from North American collections, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Art Museum; Bologna, Italy: Nuova Alfa Editoriale, 1991)., p. 118, no. 2; p. 218, no. 98
- Laura Giles, Lia Markey, Claire Van Cleave, et. al., Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2014)., p. 83, cat. no. 34; p. 84 (illus.); p. 86 (verso illus.)
