GIOVAN FRANCESCO BARBIERI known as IL GUERCINO (Cento, 1591 - Bologna, 1666) Saint Andrew the Apostle (1643) Oil on canvas, 137.5X108 cm Provenance: Rome, private collection Bibliography: G. Forgione, Un Sant'Andrea di Guercino e il suo committente, in Studi di Storia dell'Arte, no. 35, 2024 (forthcoming) The painting has been traced back to Giovan Francesco Barbieri's catalogue by Gianluca Forgione and depicts Saint Andrew the Apostle. The work is in good condition, with a fascinating patina dictated by the ageing of the varnish but that does not diminish the comprehension of the drawing, the preciousness of the draftsmanship and the refined colour combinations. Manifest are the green and purplish-red passages typical of the artist, the use of ultramarine and lacquers, as well as the soft brushstrokes that, in some passages, allow the imprimitura to shine through. Worthy of note are the highlights with which the author has connoted the saint's features and wrinkles, while the subtle chiaroscuro alternations mould the image with an emotional modulation that does not detract from its 'monumental' outcome. These aspects indicate, consequently, a mature execution to be associated with the fifth decade of the 17th century, well before the glazed style and idealised human types that mark the late works. The canvas, in fact, exudes a naturalistic intent underpinned by a calibrated use of shadows and colours, offering us an ideal image that is nonetheless present in its sentimental afflatus. This chronology is confirmed by the St. Joseph in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna (1648-1649) due to the similarity of the face with the eyes turned towards the sky (fig. 1, cf. N. Turner, 2017, p. 652, no. 363) and the St. John the Baptist in the same museum which, painted in 1644, offers the easiest parallel from a technical point of view (cf. ibid., p. 594, no. 304- Loire 2008, pp. 299-301, n162a-b). This date is supported by the Book of Accounts, a register in which the author recorded the works he carried out and in which the Apostle Andrew is only to be found on two occasions. The first is recorded on 14 January 1643, when the Father General of the Carmelites, Alberto Massari (1585-1643), at the time vicar of the Bolognese convent of San Martino Maggiore, paid 50 ducats for a half-figure of St. Andrew the Apostle - while on 16 March 1656 a work of the same iconography and cut was paid to him by Pietro Mancurti from Imola, who held the position of governor of Cento (for the two references see The Account Book of Guercino. 1629-1666, edited by B. Ghelfi, with the scientific advice of Denis Mahon, Bologna 1997, pp. 115-116, no. 286, and p. 172, no. 505, respectively). The latter work has been identified by critics as the St. Andrew the Apostle in the Koelliker collection, whose vaporous style is indeed referable to Giovan Francesco's last years (cf. Massimo Pulini, in Guercino. Poesia e sentimento nella pittura del '600, exhibition catalogue edited by D. Mahon, M. Pulini and V. Sgarbi, Milan, Palazzo Reale, 2003-2004, Novara 2003, p. 184, no. 47). The commission for the Father General of the Carmelites, on the other hand, has not been recognised in any known works to date and, consequently, can reasonably be recognised in the painting presented here. It should also be noted that Father Alberto Massari's baptismal name was precisely Andrea, a name he later abandoned when he joined the order and, in all likelihood, took the painting with him to Rome once he was appointed General. This circumstance may motivate the silence of the Felsine sources on the Saint Andrew, which plausibly never passed through the convent of San Martino Maggiore, determining the iconographic misfortune of the invention among the master's Bolognese pupils and imitators. The painting is accompanied by a critical card by Gianluca Forgione. Reference bibliography: L. Salerno, I dipinti del Guercino, Rome 1988, ad vocem S. Loire, in Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna. Catalogo Generale 3, Guido Reni e il Seicento edited by Gian P. Cammarota, J. Bentini, A. Mazza, Venice 2008 n. Turner, The painting of Guercino. A Revised and expanded catalogue Raisonné, Rome 2017, ad vocem