Cardinal Francesco Cennini
Historical Context
Guercino's portrait of Cardinal Francesco Cennini, painted in 1625, depicts a senior churchman during the pontificate of Urban VIII. Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino for his squint, was one of the most important Bolognese painters of the seventeenth century. After beginning his career with dramatic, Caravaggist compositions, Guercino gradually adopted a lighter, more classical manner that made him the natural successor to Guido Reni as the leading painter in Bologna.
Technical Analysis
Guercino's oil-on-canvas technique renders the cardinal with warm, rich color and confident brushwork. The red cardinal's robes are painted with broad, fluid strokes that demonstrate his characteristically energetic handling, while the face is modeled with greater precision and psychological attention.
Provenance
Dr. J. Seymour Maynard, London; (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 29 January 1954, no. 58);[1] (Thomas Agnew and Sons, London); sold that same day to (David M. Koetser Gallery, New York, London, and Zurich);[2] purchased 1955 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1961 to NGA. [1] Charles Beddington of the Old Master Picture Department at Christie's checked their records and found no earlier provenance for the painting; he suggested that, as Maynard was a frequenter of the London sale rooms, he may have purchased the picture at Sotheby's (letter of 2 January 1991 in NGA curatorial files). No reference to the painting appears in sales indexes prior to 1954. [2] Stockbooks, Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, no. 1185 [3] According to Fern Rusk Shapley, _Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools XVI-XVIII Century_, London, 1973: 78, and Fern Rusk Shapley, _Catalogue of Italian Paintings_, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:246. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/443.
