THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH AN OWL
pen and brown ink, possibly bister
23.2 x 18.5cm; 9 1/2 x 7 1/4in
43.5 x 38cm; 17 1/4 x 15in (framed)

Property from a Private Collection, London

Provenance:
John Bouverie (d.1750)
Anne Bouverie (d.1757; wife of the above)
John Hervey (d.1764; brother of the above)
Christopher Hervey (d.1786; son of the above)
Elizabeth Bouverie (d.1798; aunt of the above)
Sir Charles Middleton, later 1st Baron Barham (d.1813; by bequest from the above)
Charles Noel, later 1st Earl of Gainsborough (d.1866; grandson of the above)
Charles Noel, 3rd Earl of Gainsborough (d.1926; grandson of the above)
Hon. Charles and May Noel (a wedding present from the above prior to the First World War )
Colonel Archibald Noel (inherited from the above, his mother)
Thence by descent to the present owner (son of the above)

Guercino’s drawings are widely celebrated for the virtuosity of their line and the sensitivity in which subject melds with graphic touch. Whether in caricatures, sacred groups, or mythological figures, Guercino imbued them with a remarkable freedom of expression, often concentrating on moments of heightened emotion and drama. Simultaneously, through the agility and unobstructed movement of their line, Guercino’s drawings permit his viewers to trace the artist’s mind at work. A diversity of graphic passages can be recognised in the present sheet - from careful parallel hatching to quick outlines and spontaneous squiggles. While the figure of the Virgin can be compared to that of Salome in Guercino’s painting, Salome receiving the Head of St John the Baptist of 1637 (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes) and its associated red-chalk study (Royal Collection 902789, verso), the present sheet bears greater resemblance, in subject, style, and medium, to the pen and ink drawings of the 1620s, and in particular, The Virgin and Child with St Anne, circa 1620-25 (British Museum, inv. no. Pp,4.62).

The finished nature of the present sheet further suggests that it was either intended as an end in itself or, perhaps, a preparatory study for an unexecuted print. In any case, the inclusion of an owl on the right-hand side of the composition is a curious addition. Owls, and bird imagery more generally, began appearing in Guercino’s oeuvre in the early 1620s (see the painting, Memento Mori, ca. 1622-23, in a private collection, as well as the drawings, Group of Figures, with Owl on a Pole, Art Institute, Chicago, 1922.493; A Young Man with an Owl on a Stick, ca. 1630, RISD Museum, Rhode Island, 2015.85; and The Bird-Catcher, ca. 1625-1632, Morgan Library, New York, 1979.8). In the seventeenth century, owls attracted a wide variety of interpretations, from enlightenment to salacious pursuit, all of which Guercino seems to have conveyed across several of his works. In this Virgin and Child, the owl’s presence would certainly bend the interpretation towards the clarity of spiritual vision, particularly considering the animal’s placement on the same level as the Virgin’s sightline. The sharp-eyed creature is, furthermore, an apt, if humorous, inclusion for an artist known to have been cross-eyed (il guercino being the Italian diminutive for guercio, the squinter).

Adding to the fascination of this sheet is its exceptional, unbroken provenance traceable to the prestigious Bouverie Collection in the eighteenth century. John Bouverie (ca. 1723–1750) was an intrepid British art collector who amassed an array of important drawings by, among others, Michelangelo, Raphael, Rembrandt and an extensive group by Guercino. The latter may even have been acquired directly from Guercino’s descendants (see, Nicholas Turner, “John Bouverie as a Collector of Drawings” in The Burlington Magazine vol. 136, no. 109, p.91).