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This drawing is a sketch of two people seen from the knees up. The person on the right is a bare-chested man with a muscular build, his head turned towards the left. His facial features are minimal, and he has short, curly hair. Cloth appears to drape and flow around his waist. The person on the left appears to be a woman who is facing the left with her head turned back towards the right, showing similarly minimal facial features. She also has curly hair and is nude, although she holds a large bundle of cloth in front of her. This cloth appears to be the same cloth that is wrapped around the man's waist. The drawing is in reddish-brown chalk on a beige background.
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This drawing is a sketch of two people seen from the knees up. The person on the right is a bare-chested man with a muscular build, his head turned towards the left. His facial features are minimal, and he has short, curly hair. Cloth appears to drape and flow around his waist. The person on the left appears to be a woman who is facing the left with her head turned back towards the right, showing similarly minimal facial features. She also has curly hair and is nude, although she holds a large bundle of cloth in front of her. This cloth appears to be the same cloth that is wrapped around the man's waist. The drawing is in reddish-brown chalk on a beige background.

National Gallery of Art · Drawing

Amnon and Tamar

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino

Date
1649
Medium
red chalk on laid paper
Dimensions
overall: 18.9 x 26.1 cm (7 7/16 x 10 1/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Accession number
1989.14.1
Credit line
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Time span
1601 to 1650
Department
CG-E
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • Baroque
  • Old Testament
  • religious
  • Bolognese
  • Amnon
  • Tamar
Provenance

The artist's nephews, Benedetto and Cesare Gennari, Casa Gennari, Bologna; by descent to Carlo Gennari; Francesco Forni, Bologna; John Bouverie (d. 1750); his nephew, Mr. Christopher Hervey (d. 1786); his aunt, Elizabeth Bouverie (d. 1798); by inheritance to Sir Charles Middleton (1726-1813); by descent to his grandson, Charles Noel (1781-1866), who was created 1st Earl of Gainsborough in 1841 (sale, London, 20 July 1859, possibly lot 71, "a study of two figures"; the Bouverie mark, Lugt 325, was probably placed on the drawing at this sale). Private collection (sale, Bonhams, London, 16 June 1988, no. 11); (Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London); NGA purchase in 1989.

Marks

within a double circle

Watermarks

Lamb holding pennant,*

NGA object ID 70988. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.