Guercino: Drawing at the Speed of Thought

David M. Stone

One of the most prolific of all Italian Baroque draftsmen, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, “il Guercino,” is admired for his energetic, probing preparatory drawings. Professor David M. Stone, author of two catalogues and numerous articles on Guercino’s works, investigates the artist’s complex creative process in the context of his groundbreaking paintings and the legacy of the Carracci and their pupils in early-seventeenth-century Bologna. The lecture also considers Guercino’s innovative caricatures and comic drawings, sweeping landscapes, and drapery studies; the range of his drawing techniques and materials; his followers and imitators; and recent controversies in Guercino scholarship.

* The exhibition Guercino: Virtuoso Draftsman will be open at 5:30 PM for program attendees.