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Description: | IH, unmounted s. on plate b. r. "F. Bartolozzi Sculp. Londro 1764"; inscr. on plate b. l. "Guercino inv."; inscr. in pencil outside plate b. r. "8" CRE BARTOLOZZI, Francesco; (Italian; 1725-1815) AFTER GUERCINO, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, (Italian; 1591-1666) PUB DALTON, Richard (1715-1791) This volume is part of William Hunter's bequest. The prints were commissioned by Richard Dalton, Librarian to George III, in the 1760s. They focus on the King's unrivalled collection of more than 800 drawings by Guercino, largely assembled by Dalton on visits made to Italy to enrich his royal patron's art holdings. The volume promoted the Royal Collection and served the market for prints after Guercino who was particularly popular among eighteenth-century English connoisseurs. They were mainly etched by Bartolozzi, hailed as Italy's best engraver, who was brought to London by Dalton in 1763.
The story depicted is from the second book of Samuel in the Old Testament. Amnon and Absalom were half brothers and King David's sons. When Amnon raped their sister, Absalom sought revenge, ordering his men to kill Amnon while he was drunk. The drawing is one of several known preparatory sketches for a painting and together they reveal how Guercino experimented with the positions of figures. Two of the drawings are in the Royal Collection and there are etchings of both in this volume (see Glaha16450). Bartolozzi apparently did not recognise their biblical subject and mistook them for scenes of a gamblers' quarrel. | License: | http://www.hmag.gla.ac.uk/spirit/rights/ | Publisher: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Rights holder: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Subjects: | AMNON : WINDSOR : DRAWING : IMITATION : MURDER : KNIFE : QUARREL : BANDITTI : HUNTER VOLUME : ROYAL COLLECTION : DAGGER : RELIGIOUS : OLD-TESTAMENT : BIBLICAL : GAMBLERS : GAME : BAROQUE : STUDY : : | Source: | Hunterian Museum | Creator: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Identifier: | http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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