Past Exhibition

Guercino: Master Painter of the Baroque

A nude woman with pale pink skin reclines under cream-white sheets in a bed as she reaches for the cloak of a man with light skin standing in front of the bed, who leans away with arms raised in this horizontal painting. The mattress runs along the bottom edge of the canvas, and the man is shown from the knees up. The woman’s bare torso faces us, hips stacked, as she turns her face to our right in profile, looking at the man. She props her body up with her right elbow, to our left, on a mauve-pink pillow. With that hand, she clutches the end of the man’s royal-blue cloak. With her other hand, she reaches with palm up across the body of the man toward his face. Her strawberry-blond hair is pulled back under a muted red ribbon, woven with pearls, and gathered at the nape of her neck. Soft curls frame her forehead and temple. A teardrop pearl earring dangles from her right earlobe. Her nose is long and slender, and her small, pale peach lips are slightly parted. The man’s body is angled toward the woman, to our left, but he twists and leans away, to our right. With elbow raised, he grips her extended forearm with his right hand, to our left. He raises his other arm with his palm out. He looks up with brown eyes under raised brows. His mouth is open and his head tipped sharply away from the woman so his chin-length, wavy, brown hair hangs by his face. He wears an ochre-yellow, thigh-length tunic over a white shirt. A thin olive-colored belt is tied in a bow at his waist. His vivid blue cloak wraps over his right upper arm, farther from us, around his torso and hips, and is pulled by the woman. Rose-pink, shiny curtains frame the scene in the upper corners, and beyond, the background is swallowed in shadow.
Guercino, Joseph and Potiphar's Wife, 1649, oil on canvas, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 1986.17.2

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    West Building, Main Floor, Galleries 72 through 81, Lobby D
A nude woman with pale pink skin reclines under cream-white sheets in a bed as she reaches for the cloak of a man with light skin standing in front of the bed, who leans away with arms raised in this horizontal painting. The mattress runs along the bottom edge of the canvas, and the man is shown from the knees up. The woman’s bare torso faces us, hips stacked, as she turns her face to our right in profile, looking at the man. She props her body up with her right elbow, to our left, on a mauve-pink pillow. With that hand, she clutches the end of the man’s royal-blue cloak. With her other hand, she reaches with palm up across the body of the man toward his face. Her strawberry-blond hair is pulled back under a muted red ribbon, woven with pearls, and gathered at the nape of her neck. Soft curls frame her forehead and temple. A teardrop pearl earring dangles from her right earlobe. Her nose is long and slender, and her small, pale peach lips are slightly parted. The man’s body is angled toward the woman, to our left, but he twists and leans away, to our right. With elbow raised, he grips her extended forearm with his right hand, to our left. He raises his other arm with his palm out. He looks up with brown eyes under raised brows. His mouth is open and his head tipped sharply away from the woman so his chin-length, wavy, brown hair hangs by his face. He wears an ochre-yellow, thigh-length tunic over a white shirt. A thin olive-colored belt is tied in a bow at his waist. His vivid blue cloak wraps over his right upper arm, farther from us, around his torso and hips, and is pulled by the woman. Rose-pink, shiny curtains frame the scene in the upper corners, and beyond, the background is swallowed in shadow.
Guercino, Joseph and Potiphar's Wife, 1649, oil on canvas, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 1986.17.2

Overview: This first American survey of Guercino paintings included 59 works from the National Gallery and from other public and private collections. The exhibition was organized in honor of the 400th anniversary of the artist's birth.

A recorded tour of the exhibition was narrated by Diane De Grazia. A special lecture series and slide lectures on Guercino and his contemporaries were presented in March and April. The exhibition was shown in conjunction with Guercino: Drawings from Windsor Castle.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, and the National Gallery of Art. Diane De Grazia, curator of southern baroque painting, National Gallery of Art, selected the paintings to be shown at the Gallery in consultation with Sir Denis Mahon, a renowned expert on Guercino.

Sponsor: The exhibition was made possible by The Florence Gould Foundation and supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Attendance: 82,893

Catalog: Guercino: Master Painter of the Baroque, by Sir Denis Mahon with contributions by Andrea Emiliani, Diane De Grazia, and Sybille Ebert-Schifferer. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1992.

Brochure: Guercino: Master Painter of the Baroque, by David M. Stone. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1992.

Other Venues:

  • Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, 07/06/1991–11/10/1991
  • Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 12/02/1991–02/09/1992

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