Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called il Guercino

The unusual pose of the Saint, apparently drawn here from a live model, shows Guercino exploring original solutions for the representation of this popular subject. The figure does not correspond with any known painting by the artist, but Guercino typically studied every possible permutation of a pose when preparing a painting, and it is sometimes not that easy to reconcile a preparatory study with the final painted composition to which it none the less relates. Worth noting in this context are the pentimenti in the position of the right arm and hand.

Stylistically this sheet could date from the second half of the 1640s, and the fluidity in the use of the pen is also very comparable to lot 134.