Giovanni francesco barbieri biography of christopher
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Il Guercino ('the squinter') because he was cross-eyed, was by the second decade of the 17th century one of the leading....
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, (called) Il Guercino (1591-1666)
A native of the Italian town of Cento, near Bologna,Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino (or the ‘squinter’, on account of an eye condition) was a self-taught artist and follower of Caravaggio.
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (), known as il Guercino (“The Squinter”).
He began his career as a mural painter in Rome and Bologna and is best known for his ecclesiastical subjects, chiefly of biblical figures. One of his greatest works is his Jacob blessing the sons of Joseph, donated to the National Gallery of Ireland in 2008 by Sir Denis Mahon (1910-2011), who was the foremost expert on the artist.
Although his most celebrated works utilise a ‘soft’ chiaroscuro style, there is no evidence that Guercino knew Caravaggio, but he was undoubtedly exposed to ‘tenebrism’ while working in Rome.
Guercino’s career varied greatly in terms of stylistic experimentation and contemporary sources provide evidence that these changes were in part a consequence of reacting to the whims of his clients.&