Getty Museum
Landscape with a View of a Fortified Port
Creator
Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)Italian Artist · 1591–1666
All works by this person →Giovanni Francesco Barberi was nicknamed Guercino because he was *guercio,*or cross-eyed. Born in poverty in Cento, near Ferrara, he was largely self-taught, though he also served an apprenticeship. The glowing colorism and emotion of Lodovico Carracci's *Holy Family with Saint Francis* in Bologna influenced him profoundly, and Lodovico himself encouraged the young man. From 1614 to 1621, the year
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1635
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
Like most of Guercino's landscapes, this quiet view was probably imaginary and most likely was made as an independent work of art. To create the effect of calmness, Guercino balanced forms and masses, as in the fort's tower and the docked ship's mast, which are anchored by the curving, arched wall and its smoooth, flat counterpart bounding the glassy sea. He added floating sailboats and sliding gondolas, the fluttering flag, and small figures at the port to enliven his scene. Brown ink was Guercino's favorite medium for drawing. Here his crisp, clean lines and spare, somewhat abstract, architectural shapes give this drawing a feeling of modernity.
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