Guercino was born on February 8, 1591 as Giovanni Francesco Barbieri. He is known as an Italian Baroque painter with a lively nature in his paintings.
Guercino received the nickname by which he is best known because he was cross-eyed, and the word is Italian for “squinter.” Nevertheless, he was extremely talented and mostly taught his art skills to himself. His work has been compared to that of Caravaggio, though it is unlikely that he ever saw any of the master’s work.
Guercino was an extremely productive artist and created about 106 altarpieces for many different churches, as well as more than 140 other paintings and many drawings.
Below are shown Saint Matthew and the Angel, St. Cecilia,
Mars with Cupid, Capturing Christ,
and Christ with the Woman of Samaria.
