GIOVANNI FRANCESCO BARBIERI, IL GUERCINO (CENTO 1591-1666 BOLOGNA)

In this expressive drawing, Guercino captured David lifting the heavy severed head of Goliath, a rarely depicted episode from the Old Testament. The sheet, powerfully rendered in Guercino’s energetic pen technique, was likely realized as a finished work for sale, rather than a preparatory drawing for a painting. According to David Stone (op. cit.) this sheet may be dated to the late 1620s or early 1630s.