Annunciation
Artist
Il Guercino
(Italian, 1591 - 1666)
Date1628-1629
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsFrame (Framed together): 93 1/2 x 234 1/2 x 5 in. (237.5 x 595.6 x 12.7 cm)
Image (each section): 76 1/4 x 108 3/4 in. (193.7 x 276.2 cm)
Image (each section): 76 1/4 x 108 3/4 in. (193.7 x 276.2 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN122
Guercino was one of the most important Italian painters of the Baroque period. He made this monumental pair of paintings—now framed as a single work—to be placed over the chancel arch of an important oratory (chapel) in the city of Reggio Emilia. While large-scale wall decorations were usually painted in fresco, Guercino apparently received permission from his patrons to execute the work in oil on canvas at his studio in Cento, outside Bologna. The union of the two canvases as one framed work likely dates to the 1780s, when the paintings were removed from the oratory and sold to an art dealer. Acquired by Mr. Ringling in 1929, this work is an excellent example of his pursuit of large-scale paintings by great masters for his museum collection.
On View
On view
Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
after 1655
