Four Women and a Child
Etcher Francesco Bartolozzi Italian
After Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Italian
Publisher John & Josiah Boydell British
Not on view
Bartolozzi here reproduces a Guercino drawing owned by George III that shows women in conversation near a small boy. When the print was made, no specific subject had been identified, but recent scholarship has suggested Sarah expelling Hagar and Ishmael, or Pharoah's daughter with the infant Moses. The print is contained in a volume that promotes the Royal Collection, first published in 1764 by Richard Dalton--as the king's librarian, Dalton collected art for the crown in Italy, persuaded Bartolozzi to move to England, then commissioned him to produce a large number of prints after Guercino. London publishers John and Josiah Boydell, acquired Dalton's plates between 1790-91, and here reissued his set of 82 prints.
