Attributed to Giovanni Francesco Barbieri "Guercino".

Attributed to GIOVANNI FRANCESCO BARBIERI "GUERCINO" (Francesco Barbieri. Cento, 1591-Bologna, 1666).
"St. John the Baptist," circa 1650.
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Provenance: Antonio Vives Escudero collection (1859-1925).
Measurements: 60 x 51 cm.

The iconography of St. John the Baptist is a recurring theme in the production of the master, who adapted the morphology of the saint to the moralizing intention of each commission. This work is situated in an intermediate stage between the typology of the San Giovanni Battista Battista Child of the Capitoline Museums (c. 1650) - characterized by a childlike physiognomy with a pious gaze - and the mature versions of the Pinacoteca Civica in Forlì (1653) or Cento (1650), where the ascetic rigor is manifested through a virile anatomy and a tense gesture. The present work, dated around 1650, captures the transition to adolescence. Here the artist dispenses with the morbidity of childhood and the anatomical hardness of maturity, opting for a formal synthesis that refers to the classical canon of beauty. The modeling of the features, of an idealized purity, brings the figure closer to the aesthetics of the kouros or Greek ephebe, turning the saint into a paradigm of plastic perfection and compositional balance.

The face of the saint is perfectly recognizable within the artist's catalog and can refer to a specific model or to his own aesthetic ideal. Their idealized features could suggest the second option. Thus, we can clearly see this physiognomy in the faces of the "Angelo annunciante" of the Colonna Gallery in Rome, "the prodigal son" of the Putnam Foundation or the drawings preserved in the Louvre of young people (Rev INV 6917 and RF 29858).

The background scenery is resolved by a sketchy landscape of great atmospheric subtlety. In it, we can intuit a couple of figures integrated in a wooded environment where an architectural structure with a centralized plan, evocative of the Greco-Roman tholos, stands out. All these resources are perfectly evident in Guercino's work, citing the examples of the famous "Self-Portrait and Faithful Love" from the National Gallery in London, "The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine" from the Hermitage or "Christ and the Samaritan Woman" from the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection.

However, the centerpiece of the piece is undoubtedly the face of the young saint. His gaze, directed with determination towards the viewer, establishes a direct psychological link that transcends the mere hagiographic representation, turning the work into a study of introspection and devotional presence.The work stands out for its small format which, far from limiting its scope, condenses with extraordinary power the aesthetic and spiritual ideals of the author. This scale, common in the devotional cabinet production of the mid-seventeenth century, finds a parallel in works as relevant as the "Jacob holding Joseph's tunic" from the ancient collection of Maffeo Barberini 76 x 63 cm auctioned at Sotheby's NY in 2023 for 1,500.000 or "St. Francis in meditation" reproduced by Barbanti Grimaldi in a private collection with measurements of 61 x 51. It is worth noting that the format of our work is in accordance with the original idea of the master since the preparation of the edges of the original canvas show the exact contours of the same showing the excellent state of conservation of the painting.

In short, this is a work by Guercino that synthesizes the essence of his pictorial language. Its excellent condition and its aesthetic relevance make it a fundamental discovery for the master's catalog, representing a unique opportunity for institutional and private collecting of antique painting.