1629
The Artist's Maidservant Making the Bed
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (called il Guercino)Italian, 1591 - 1666
Guercino's nickname, roughly translated as "the squinter," derives from the fact that he had one crossed eye. He was one of the profoundly important painters and draughtsmen active in Rome and Bologna during the first half of the seventeenth century. An old Italian inscription on the reverse of this sheet, presumably by Guercino himself, dates the drawing to 21 August 1629 and informs us that the artist, laid up with a headache and fever, is sketching his maidservant making his bed.
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