Saint Mark the Evangelist, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Il Guercino (Cento, 1591 – Bologna, 1666) workshop

Workshop of Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Il Guercino (Cento, 1591 – Bologna, 1666)
Attributable to Bartolomeo Gennari (Cento, 1594 – Bologna, 1661)

San Marco Evangelista

Oil on canvas – 85 x 71 cm., framed 100 x 86 cm.

Complete details of the painting directly on – link –

Of great character and excellent quality, this precious seventeenth-century painting has as its subject Saint Mark the Evangelist, half-length portrait, in profile to the right, intent on sharpening his quill. On the dark background you can see, on the right, a bookcase with various volumes, an inkwell and a scroll, elements that allude to the role of him and the lion with the open Gospel, attributes of the Saint.

The Evangelist, with the features of a young man with a beard and thick hair, of strong expressive vigor, is dressed in a tunic highlighted by an intense red, covered on the shoulders by a blue cloak.
The iconography finds its origins in the series of the four Evangelists created between 1615 and 1623 by Guercino commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro d'Este, brother of Duke Cesare d'Este, then sold in 1746 to Augustus III of Saxony and today at the Gemäldegalerie of Dresden.

Our canvas therefore shows its evident belonging to the narrow sphere of the seventeenth-century Emilian master: the executive technique and stylistic features agree with those of a work dating back to the first half of the seventeenth century, which manifests the characteristics of an artist of narrow sphere Guercinesque, well informed on the pictorial innovations created by the master, and therefore presumably active within his prestigious workshop.

In our specific case, the independent typological characters correspond to those of the painting of Bartolomeo Gennari (Conto, 1594 – Bologna, 1661), a painter constantly active alongside Barbieri.

Over the years of his lasting career Bartolomeo dedicated himself steadily to the creation of works and derivatives from Guercino's compositions, for this reason he is esteemed as one of the best official copyists of the master, who habitually assigned him the replicas of his best inventions, sometimes intervening person to perfect them and make them difficult to distinguish from paintings entirely by Guercino.

The painting is completed with a beautiful wooden frame.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The painting is sold accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and descriptive iconographic card.

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