LOT DETAILS

Materials:

oil on canvas

Measurements:

101.57 in. (258.00 cm.) (height) by 80.31 in. (204.00 cm.) (width) by 4.72 in. (12.00 cm.) (width)

Markings:

inscribed 'GLORIOSA DICTA SVNT DE TE CIVITAS DEI. PSALM.S 86.' (lower right, on the tablet held by David)

Condition:

in a George III carved and gilt-gesso frame designed by James 'Athenian' Stuart for Spencer House and possibly carved by Thomas Vardy, circa 1768, carved with lotus and acanthus buds, egg and dart and an outer palmette band, and with a cavetto moulded, foliate, beaded and egg and dart edge

Literature:

G.F. Barbieri, il Guercino, letters of 22 and 27 April and 10 May 1651, cited in Salerno, op. cit. infra, p. 353, and in Mahon, 1991, op. cit. infra, p. 348. G.F. Barbieri, il Guercino, Libro dei conti, MS, Biblioteca Comunale dell'Archiginnasio di Bologna, inv. no. B 331, p. 41 recto, conto 442, 'Adi 16. Maggio, 1651 - Dal Ill:mo Sig:r Gioseppe Locatteli si è riceuto a bon Conto del quadro, del Proffetta Dauide, doble di Italia n:o 45- che fanno, di questa Moneta L 666- che sono duca:ni n:o 133 L 1- Scudi : n:o 166 L2-', p. 41 verso, as being a pair to The Samian Sibyl and p. 79 recto, 'per il pagamento del quadro del Dauide profeta, fatto, al Sig:re Lucatelo, per Cesena riceuto [Ducatoni] 133 L1: L666-: [Scudi] 166 L 2-'. Count C.C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice: Vite de' pittori bolognesi, Bologna, 1678, II, p. 378; G. Zanotti, ed., Bologna, 1841, II, pp. 269 and 332, 'Un Davide Profeta al sig. Giosefo Locatelli, e una Sibilla all'istesso'. G. Hamilton, letters dated 4 May 1768 and subsequently, MSS, British Library (formerly Althorp, Northamptonshire), Add. 75686, Althorp Papers, vol. CCCLXXXVI. J.A. Calvi, Notizie della vita, e delle opera del cavaliere Gioan Francesco Barbieri ditto il Guercino da Cento Bologna, 1808, p. 128; reprinted in G. Zanotti, ed., op. cit., p. 332. G. Atti, Intorno alla vita..di Gianfrancesco Barbieri, Rome, 1861, p. 110. E.K. Waterhouse, A short history of Althorp and the Spencer family, Northampton, 1949, under 'The Pictures'. E.K. Waterhouse, 'The British Contribution to the Neo-Classical style in Painting', Proceedings of the British Academy, XL, 1954. p. 73. Il seicento europeo: realismo, classicismo, barocco, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo delle esposizioni, Rome, 1956, p. 137, under no. 25. Art treasures centenary: European old masters, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1960, pp. 151-2, under no. 386. D. Irwin, 'Gavin Hamilton: Archaeologist, painter and dealer', The Art Bulletin, XLIV, 2, June 1962, p. 101 and 101n.113. D. Mahon, Il Guercino: Catalogo critico dei dipinti, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna, 1968, p. 196, under no. 90; anastatic reprint, Bologna, 1991, p. 348. G. and A. Neerman, eds., Disegni bolognesi del XVI al XVIII secolo, exhibition catalogue, Bologna and London, 1968, p. 25, under no. 35. D. Mahon, Il Guercino, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri: Catalogo critico dei disegni, exhibition catalogue, Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna, 1969, p. 225, under no. 256. Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd., England and the Seicento: a loan exhibition of Bolognese paintings from British collections, exhibition catalogue, London, 1973, under no. 37 (text by C. Whitfield). O. Pieraccini in La Piè, 1975, no. 4 (July-August), pp. 151-4. K.J. Garlick, 'A catalogue of the pictures at Althorp', The Walpole Society, LXV, 1976, pp. xiv and 34, no. 251 and under no. 250, pl. 26. D. Mahon in Nell'età di Correggio e dei Carracci: pittura in Emilia dei secoli XVI e XVII, exhibition catalogue, Pinacoteca nazionale e Academia di Belle arti, Museo civico archeologico, Bologna, 1986, pp. 475-6 and 476n.1, under no. 167. D. Mahon in The Age of Correggio and the Carracci: Emilian painting of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986, (translated by R.E. Wolf et al.), pp. 475-6 and 476n.1, under no. 167. L. Salerno and D. Mahon, I dipinti del Guercino, Rome, 1988, no. 283, pp. 352-3, illustrated. M. Helston and T. Henry, Guercino in Britain: Paintings from British collections, London, 1991, no. 29, pp. 58 and 60-1. F. Russell, 'Guercino and England', in M. Helston and T. Henry, op. cit., pp. 5-6. D. Mahon, ed., Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, il Guercino, 1591-1666, exhibition catalogue, Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna; Pinacoteca Civica e Chiesa del Rosario, Cento; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main; and National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Bologna, 1991, pp. 348-350, under no. 134. D. Stone, Guercino: Catalogo complete dei dipinti, Florence, 1991, p. 27, no. 270. J. Friedman, Spencer House: Chronicle of a great London mansion, London, 1993, pp. 41, 41n.57, 154 and 254-5, fig. 227, illustrated in situ in the Great Room, Spencer House. J. Stourton, '(2) John Spencer', in J. Turner, ed., The Dictionary of Art, London, XXIX, 1996, p. 351. G. Finaldi and M. Kitson, eds., Discovering the Italian baroque: The Denis Mahon Collection, exhibition catalogue, London, 1997, p. 110, fig. 34. B. Ghelfi, ed., with D. Mahon, Il libro dei conti del Guercino, 1629-1666, Venice, 1997, pp. 153-4, 225 and 255n.8, nos. 442 and 447. J. Ingamells, A dictionary of British and Irish travellers in Italy, 1701-1800, compiled from the Brinsley Ford Archive, New Haven and London, 1997, pp. 883 and 884n.21. Earl Spencer, Althorp: The story of an English house, New York, 1999, pp. 83 and 107, illustrated in situ in the Great Dining Room and the Marlborough Room at Althorp. Earl Spencer, The Spencers: A personal history of an English family, New York, 2000, pp. 115-6. A. Ziefer, 'Guercino', in A. Norbert and M. Steppes, eds., Saur Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon: Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, Leipzig, LXIV, 2009, p. 438.

Provenance:

Painted for Giuseppe Locatelli, Cesena, in 1651, with The Samian Sybil, and by descent to the. Marchesi Locatelli, Cesena, from whom acquired in 1768 by. Gavin Hamilton (1723-1798), painter, archaeologist and dealer, on behalf of. John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer (1734-1783), at Spencer House, St. James's Place, London, in the Great Room, and by descent at Spencer House and at Althorp House, Northamptonshire, in the Great Dining Room and subsequently in the Marlborough Room.