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Lot Essay
This picture relates to Guercino’s The Return of the Prodigal Son in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin. Guercino made the picture for Cardinal Ludovisi in 1617 in Bologna, and this lot repeats the left-hand side of the composition.
We are grateful to Nicholas Turner for sharing his views on the picture after first-hand inspection. He believes an attribution to Guercino himself should not be discounted and suggests that it may well be an actual-sized sketch for the three principal figures in the Turin picture, which it would have preceded. He considers the handling to be more vigorous than that of the now much damaged original, and notes that there are multiple minor differences in detail, including what appears to be a glimpse of sky seen through trees in the background, and reiterations of several contours, such as in the father’s left hand and in the back of the Prodigal Son’s breeches.
We are grateful to Nicholas Turner for sharing his views on the picture after first-hand inspection. He believes an attribution to Guercino himself should not be discounted and suggests that it may well be an actual-sized sketch for the three principal figures in the Turin picture, which it would have preceded. He considers the handling to be more vigorous than that of the now much damaged original, and notes that there are multiple minor differences in detail, including what appears to be a glimpse of sky seen through trees in the background, and reiterations of several contours, such as in the father’s left hand and in the back of the Prodigal Son’s breeches.