KIMBELL ART MUSEUM ACQUIRES GUERCINO'S 'CHRIST AND THE WOMAN OS SAMARIA'

THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS, HAS ACQUIRED THE PAINTING 'CHRIST AND THE WOMAN OS SAMARIA', DATED TO 1619-20, BY THE ITALIAN ARTIST GUERCINO, ONE OF THE FOREMOST PAINTERS OF HIS TIME. THE PURCHASE WAS ANNOUNCED TODAY BY THE MUSEUM'S DIRECTOR. THE PAINTING DATES FROM GUERCINO'S EARLY, RAREST, AND MOST DESIRABLE PERIOD, WHEN THE ARTIST ACHIEVED ACCLAIM FOR THE EMOTIONAL POWER OF HIS COMPOSITIONS. 'CHRIST AND THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA' PRESENTS A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF THE SAMARITAN WOMAN, WHO RESTS HER WATER BUCKET ON THE WALL WHERE SHE HAS COME TO DRAW WATER, GRAPPLING TO UNDERSTAND CHRIST'S MESSAGE THAT HE IS THE LIVING WATER, THE SOURCE OF ETERNAL LIFE. THE PAINTING HAS NEVER BEEN PUBLISHED OR EXHIBITED, AND PRIOR TO ITS PURCHASE BY A EUROPEAN PRIVATE COLLECTOR HAD BEEN ONLY THROUGH COPIES AND AN OLD PHOTOGRAPH OF THE WORK THAT WAS SHOWN TO GUERCINO EXPERT SIR DENIS MAHON MANY DECADES AGO.
GIOVANNI FRANCESCO BARBIERI (1591–1666), KNOWN BY HIS NICKNAME GUERCINO ('SQUINTER') BECAUSE HE WAS CROSS-EYED, WAS BORN IN THE NORTHERN ITALIAN TOWN OF CENTO, NEAR BOLOGNA AND FERRARA. ALTHOUGH HE RECEIVED HIS EARLY TRAINING WITH LOCAL ARTISTS, HE WAS LARGELY SELF-TAUGHT. HIS EARLY WORK WAS MARKED BY AN ASTONISHING NATURALISM AND ABILITY TO CONVEY TEH EXPRESSIVE POWER OF THE HUMAN FIGURE. HE ADMIRED THE BOLOGNESE PAINTER LUDOVICO CARRACCI, WHO IN 1617 WROTE A LETTER PRAISING THE YOUNG MAN FROM CENTO 'WHO PAINTS WITH REMARKABLE INVENZIONE. HE IS A GREAT DRAFTSMAN AND A TERRIFIC COLOURIST: HE IS A PHENOMENON OF NATURE AND A TRUE MIRACLE WHO DUMBFOUNDS EVERYONE WHO SEES HIS WORKS... EVEN THE TOP PAINTERS ARE AWESTRUCK.' THE FOLLOWING YEAR GUERCINO VISITED VENICE, HONING HIS TALENT AS A COLOURIST BY STUDYING THE WORKS OF TITIAN AND OTHER VENETIAN PAINTERS. GUERCINO DIED IN 1666 IN BOLOGNA, HE LEFT AN IMPRESSIVE LEGACY OF NEARLY 400 PAINTINGS AND WELL OVER 1,000 DRAWINGS THAT DEMONSTRATE HIS EXTRAORDINARY POWERS OF INVENTION.