Guercino sites in Bologna and Cento

Born in Cento in 1591 and known as Il Guercino, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri is one of the most representative artists of his time. He lived in Bologna from 1642 onwards. His great renown was evidenced by a visit from Queen Christina of Sweden 1655: the sovereign asked the painter if she could touch his hand, that which “had worked such wonders”. The works of Guercino in the area provide the basis for fascinating itineraries that include churches, streets and museums.

Discover the sites in Bologna and Cento and learn about Guercino's story

Permanent collections

National Gallery (Pinacoteca Nazionale)

The Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna has dedicated the main gallery room of the 17th and 18th century section to Guercino, with 13 works in the new collection.

Pivotal achievements of the master's production are the Vestizione di San Guglielmo (1620), an altarpiece of solemn monumentality, and the imposing San Bruno in adorazione della Madonna in gloria (1647), a mature work resulting from a presumably close collaboration with his brother Paolo Antonio Barbieri, a still life painter.

“Lucretia” - Quadreria di Palazzo Magnani, Bologna

Believed to be one of Guercino’s first known paintings, the Christ Praying in the Olive Garden reveals how the work of Ludovico Carracci and Scarsellino had a fundamental influence on the artist. Barbieri's years in Cento were also the time of the great Trinity, whose figures are drawn to be viewed from below, while the Lucretia was executed for the governor of Cento in 1644, when the painter was then famous and living far from his home town.

“Hercules and Antaeus” - Palazzo Sampieri Talon 

In October 1631 Astorre Sampieri paid 100 Italian scudo to Guercino for the execution of Hercules wrestling with Antaeus: foreshortened from below, the two figures adorn the ceiling of a ground floor room. The work was executed dry, and in Carlo Cesare Malvasia’s view, it fully highlighted Guercino's “excellence of drawing”. In the palace rooms, Barbieri's work compares directly with the paintings the Carracci family had dedicated to the mythological hero almost forty years earlier.

-> The palace is open to the public on special occasions

"Madonna of the Rose with Child" - Palazzo Pepoli Bologna History Museum

Palazzo Pepoli is home to the Bologna History Museum, an institution dedicated to the city’s culture and transformations over the centuries. No exhibition of the period from the Etruscans to the present could omit a space for the Felsina pittrice, an historic tome illustrating the prolific era of the Accademia del Naturale (Natural Academy). This school was in fact where Giovan Francesco Barbieri, known asIl Guercino, obtained his education. His Madonna with Rose and Child, a sort of “portable fresco”, can be admired at the Bologna History Museum. The work is remarkable, given that the painter was only 25 years old at the time of its execution.

©Elettra Bastoni, Palazzo Pepoli. Bologna History Museum

Guercino'sfortunes in the Napoleonic age - Civic Museum of Industrial Art and Davia Bargellini Gallery

In 1808 Jacopo Alessandro Calvi published the News of the Life of Guercino. Regarded to be the “first modern biography”of the Cento master, it is celebrated for its distinctive style, marked by vivid naturalism and a “soft and sweet tone”.  These aspects proved to be a source of admiration not only for Calvi the art author, but also for Calvi as a painter, as evidenced by his Our Lady of Sorrows in the Davia Bargellini Museum. The painting was executed around 1804, about the same time as the writing of the biography.

©Davia Bargellini Museum 

Sculptors in the age of Guercino: Alessandro Algardi and Gianlorenzo Bernini - Bologna Civic Medieval Museum

Two important works at the Medieval Museum are useful for understanding the back ground and context in which Guercino worked: a prominent influence at the time of his Roman sojourn was the Bust of Pope Gregory XV Ludovisi, created by Bernini around 1621-22, exemplifying the great sculptor’s early innovative experiments on animation effects, carried out in the papal capital; feeding into the Bolognese tradition was the bronze group Saint Michael Overcoming Satan, a work that adroitly resolves the dynamism and action in opposite and crossed rhythms. This sculpture was executed by Bernini’s greatest rival, Algardi, around 1650 – the time of Guercino's late phase when he was permanently resident in Bologna.

©Medieval Museum

From Aldrovandi to Guercino: nature from real life -Palazzo Poggi Museum, Bologna

The Ulisse Aldrovandi section at the Palazzo Poggi Museum tells the story of the Bolognese scientist who began to study nature from real life in the 16th century and to have it reproduced by artists and engravers in images that his contemporary painters did not hesitate to take inspiration from. This was the line of development taken by the painting of Guercino (1591-1666), an artist capable of observing the nature before his eyes and transposing it unadorned onto canvas.

Arrangement of the “House, study and museum” Hall at Palazzo Poggi Museum ©Sistema Museale di Ateneo

“Saint Cecilia” - Domenico Inzaghi Civic Art Gallery, Budrio (BO)

The treasures housed at the Inzaghi Art Gallery allow us to take a close look at Guercino's artistic temperament and his renown. The saints “Cecilia” and “Agnes”, portrayed in half-figure, replicate and build upon the celebrated models of Barbieri and his workshop. The collection also includes valuable drawings by the painter, who put great effort into his designs and the various expressive possibilities of his tools, whether pen, charcoal or sanguine.

Saint Cecilia - ©Domenico Inzaghi Civic Art Gallery

“The Resurrected Christ Appears to the Virgin” - Il Guercino Art Gallery, Cento (FE)

Guercino nurtured an intense bond with Cento even during the years he spent away from the town. The churches, palaces and local area of Cento are dotted with the works of the painter and his school. The Civic Art Gallery allows the spectator to interpret Barbieri's painting career starting from his models (in particular Ludovico Carracci) and to retrace his artistic path through some absolute masterpieces, such as the “Madonna with Blessing Child” and “The Resurrected Christ Appears to the Virgin, admired by Velázquez and Goethe.

 House-studio, Via S. Alò 3, Bologna

In 1642, alarmed at the prospect of Castro’s imminent war on Cento, Guercino left his home town and took refuge in Bologna. Initially a guest of Count Filippo Aldrovandi, in 1644 he bought a large house in Via del Carbone, now Via S. Alò. In this house-studio, the painter brought together his brother Paolo Antonio, his sisters and their families. Two of Guercino's grandsons, Benedetto and Cesare Gennari, sons of Lucia Barbieri, kept his artist's workshop going after his death.

-> The palace is open to the public on special occasions

©centronatura.it

Guercino at La Quadreria - Palazzo Rossi Poggi Marsili, Bologna

One room of the Quadreria di ASP Città di Bologna is entirely dedicated to the exhibition of works from Guercino's workshop in Bologna. Six canvases by the master and his disciples can be admired in the building. Among his pupils was also his nephew Cesare Gennari, who painted the prestigious portraits of two benefactors of the Opera Pia dei Poveri Vergognosi, Francesco Maria Dal Sole and Dorotea Fiorenzi Saccenti, also on display at the Quadreria.