St. John the Evangelist

Etching, 1660 circa, unlettered.

After Guido Reni

Unlisted in any reference book.

Very good example, printed on contemporary laid and watermaked paper, trimmed close to platemark, in excellent condition.

Our knowledge of Girolamo Scarsello’s life is very fragmentary. He was a pupil of Francesco Gessi and worked as a painter and etcher in Bologna, Milan and Turin. Scarsello’s printed work comprises just six etchings, which according to Bartsch are “exé­cu­tées d’une pointe légère et assez spirituelle” (Le Peintre-Graveur, XIX, p. 249). In the past, some of Scarsello’s prints were taken for works by Giovanni Andrea Sirani, to whom he was stylistically very close and who also provided the model for the present etching.

Scarsello was a by no means untalented little master who developed his skills by imitating and adapting the art of Sirani and Guido Reni.