Caricature of a Man Wearing a Large Hat

Artist: Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) (Italian, Bologna, 1591–1666)

ca. 1630–40

Prints and Drawings

By appointment, Duffy Study Room

The genre of caricature developed in the early seventeenth century, particularly under the influence of the Carracci family, whose Academy was one of the primary training grounds for what came to be known as Baroque art. Naturalistic studies like the life drawing by Domenichino in the Yale University Art Gallery's collection (2003.103) were the most obvious aspect of the Carracci reform of painting, but a caricature's distortion or overemphasis of a particular feature of a person required equally careful study of the subject's appearance. The idea of truth revealed through distortion was a fascinating conceit to Baroque artists and patrons. Guercino became one of the foremost caricaturists of his time, and this sheet is one of the largest and most humorous of his drawings in the genre.

Medium

Pen and brown ink

Dimensions

sheet: 11 15/16 × 9 1/16 in. (30.4 × 23 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Edmund P. Pillsbury, B.A. 1965

Accession Number

1991.39.2

Culture

Italian

Period

17th century

Classification

Drawings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Partly illegible collector's stamp lower left, recto, probably L.106, Alfonso IV d'Este (1634-62); Sotheby's, London, 20 May 1985, #484 (as Bolognese 17th century); Mia Weiner sale cat., Nov. 1985 (as Guercino); Edmund P. Pillsbury, Fort Worth, Texas, acquired 1985, by whom given
Bibliography
  • Richard Brettell et al., From the Private Collections of Texas: European Art, Ancient to Modern, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2009), 77-78, fig. 71
  • Lisa Hodermarsky, Suzanne Boorsch, and John J. Marciari, Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2006), 27, 140–41, no. 43, ill.
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

caricatures, portraits

Subject

beards hats men psychology

Inscriptions

Notations, in graphite, at LR corner of recto: 305 / 230 / 1/ c

Technical metadata and APIs

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