GUIDO RENI The Madonna and Child with St. Joseph in the Background

GUIDO RENI
The Madonna and Child with St. Joseph in the Background

Etching, circa 1600-05. 196x139 mm; 7¾x5½ inches, narrow margins. Third state (of 5), with the large initials lower right, and before the address of Cenci. A very good impression of this scarce, early etching with strong contrasts.

Reni (1575-1642) was born in Bologna and studied from the mid-1590s at the Carracci academy, leaving around 1598 to pursue an independent artistic career. He produced his first etchings at this time, including a group of nine subjects which were based on scenes from his mural for the entry of Pope Clement VIII into Bologna. By 1601, Reni had arrived in Rome, where he spent the majority of his mature career, and by 1607 began full-time artistic employment with the prominent Borghese family. Bartsch 1.