Abstract
This article focuses on Guercino’s Return of the Prodigal Son, commissioned in the name of Cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi and on his marketing choices. This is a case study in terms of self-promotion tactics employed by an ambitious artist. My argument is that one finds in the painting a secondary and more sophisticated level of interpretation, which relates to the relationship between the painter and his patron. To the most traditional iconography of the scene, Guercino added musicians and spectators, thus positioning the entire composition in the theatre. One of the musicians is depicted in a way that casts him as a representative of the painter. The patron understood Guercino’s intentions and commissioned what became Guercino’s most important artworks. It was Guercino’s ability of shifting the attention of a given iconography and deliver current political meaning that is discernible in his Roman works commissioned by the same Cardinal Ludovisi who was elected Pope Gregory XV.
Highlights
Today we may confidently assert the extent to which Guercino’s career was impacted by Pope Gregory XV (Alessandro Ludovisi 1554–1623)
In contrast to the Return of the Prodigal Son, in this composition the figures behave as would be expected during a performance: the musicians play their instruments, the actors stand at centre stage, and the spectators observe them
Guercino was not in the habit of producing self-portraits, and the few rare exceptions that are attributed to him indicate that the image of the musician in Return of the Prodigal Son is not a self-portrait and his presence is meant to accentuate a different type of endeavour
Summary
Today we may confidently assert the extent to which Guercino’s career was impacted by Pope Gregory XV (Alessandro Ludovisi 1554–1623). Petronilla is Guercino’s most prestigious work in Rome This is the only major work of art commissioned by Pope Gregory. There are many questions concerning the reasons that motivated the Ludovisi pope to invite the obscure young painter from Cento to Rome. Foremost among these questions is: what exactly did the old clergyman find so compelling in Guercino’s work? In ing was intended for a high-ranking patron, who paved his way toward fame and success This early commission, Guercino added a personal undercurrent note that was meant to. According to Malvasia, these three works truly exceeded the cardinal’s expectations
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