Guerchin’s lost study of love and war comes to auction

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Le Guerchin, painted Herminie retrouvant Tancrède blessé in the seventeenth century as a first thought for what would become one of his most enduring compositions. The canvas that now emerges for auction captures that extraordinary moment of artistic genesis, when the artist’s hand was still discovering how to orchestrate the drama of rescue and devotion across the composition.

The painting draws its narrative from Torquato Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, that Renaissance epic of crusade and romance. Herminie, the Saracen princess, discovers the Christian knight Tancrède wounded and abandoned on the battlefield. Le Guerchin renders the scene with his characteristic chiaroscuro, figures emerging from shadow and candlelit darkness, the warm ochres and earth tones of their costumes catching light against the deep ground. The brushwork shows the generosity and vigour of his hand, each figure animated by an emotional urgency that animates the canvas.

What makes this version singularly precious is that it represents the artist’s first exploration of the subject before the celebrated interpretation now held at the Galleria Doria Pamphilj in Rome. To see both paintings is to understand the depth of Le Guerchin’s process, how he refined narrative and composition through successive reworkings, how each iteration deepened his understanding of the moment. The painting’s gold frame catches the gallery light in the photograph, lending it that particular richness that old masters possess when they find their moment again.

The work will be viewable from 24 November at the Hôtel des Ventes in Monte Carlo’s Quai Antoine Ier. The sale of Tableaux Anciens and Mobilier et Objets d’Art takes place on 28 November at 14:30. Enquiries may be directed to amournet@hvmc.com or +377 93 25 88 89.

Imagery courtesy of Hôtel des Ventes de Monte-Carlo (@hvmcauction).