Benjamin West, P.R.A. (Pennsylvania 1738-1820 London)

After the upper half of Guercino's black chalk compositional drawing for The burial and reception into Heaven of Saint Petronilla (fig. 1) now at Windsor (D. Mahon and N. Turner, The drawings of Guercino in the collection of her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, Cambridge, 1989, p. 12, no. 23). West would no doubt have had opportunities to make copies of Guercino drawings in the Royal Collection in his capacity as Painter to the King, and his earlier style as a draughtsman reflects this. Guercino's altarpiece, originally for St. Peter's, Rome, is now in the Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome (L. Salerno, I dipinti del Guercino, Rome, 1988, pp. 174-6, no. 92).