The Entombment

From the museum

Guercino’s career is unusually well documented, in part due to the survival of his account books, which reveal that he charged a set amount for each figure in a picture. According to the entry for this painting, the client wished to pay only for one full-length, one bust-length, and three half-length figures. Guercino’s moving composition attests to his resourcefulness in overcoming such restrictions. Christ and the attendant mourners are depicted with compelling restraint and in accord with the patron’s budget.

Wilson L. Mead Fund

Materials & technique

Technique: oil painting, painting, painting (image making), painting techniques.

Provenance

Painted for anonymous "Cavaliere Veneziano," 1656 [acc. to Guercino account book, see Stone, 1991]. Colonna Collection, Rome by 1783 [no. 205 in 1783 inventory]. Sold from Colonna collection to Giovanni de' Rossi (Du Rubeis) [Mahon, 1968] after 1795 [listed in 1795 Colonna inventory]. Probably sold by Giovanni de' Rossi (de Rubeis) to Sir Simon Clarke, by 1802 [Salerno (1988), also engraved in 1802 by P. Fontana]. Probably sold by Clarke to James Irvine as agent for William Buchanan by 1803 [Buchanan (1824) pp. 117-118]. John Humble. Probably consigned by Humble for sale by F. C. DeBligney, London, March 15, 1809, no. 94 but likely bought in [Getty provenance index]. Sold at Humble sale, Christie's, London, April 11, 1812, no. 56 to Francis Charles Seymour-Conway, Earl of Yarmouth (later the 3rd Marquess of Hartford) for 430 guineas [Mahon, 1968]. Sold by Mr. Yates to Thomas Bulkeley Bulkeley-Owen (died 1867), Tedsmore Hall, Oswestry, England, 1818 [acc. Owen sale cat.]. Bought in, his sale, Christie's, London, April 30,1868. By descent to his eldest son, Bulkeley Hatchett Bulkeley-Owen (died 1868), Tedsmore Hall; by descent to his brother, Rev. Thomas Mainwaring Bulkeley Bulkeley-Owen (died 1910), Tedsmore Hall; by descent to his twin sister, Mrs. Rev. Edward Jacson, (Frances Marianne Eliza), Tedsmore Hall; by descent to her son, Rev. Owen Fitzherbert Jacson (died 1935), Tedsmore Hall; by descent to his son, Fitzherbert Edward Shallcross Jacson, Tedsmore Hall; by descent to his wife, Mrs. F. E. S. Jacson (née Ruth Henrietta Hanmer). Julius H. Weitzner, New York. Sold by Weitzner to the Art Institute, 1956.

Where to see The Entombment

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. View on the museum’s official page.

See more works at Art Institute of Chicago or browse the full Guercino collection.