King David and the Wise Women

This gem of a catalogue accompanies an exhibition at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire,
on one of the great painters of 17th-century Italy, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as
Guercino (1591-1666). It brings together for the fi rst time Waddesdon’s King David with three
paintings of sibyls (female prophets from classical antiquity) on loan from the National
Gallery and the Royal Collection.
Readers and viewers alike will be immersed in the poetry, colour and majesty of these four
works, which were all painted in the year 1651 by the great Italian artist Guercino (‘The
Squinter’). They have never before been seen together.
The catalogue will investigate the relationship between David, Jewish patriarch, psalmist
and prophet, whom Christians believed prefi gured Christ, and the four turbaned, pagan
seers, who supposedly foretold Christ’s birth. Guercino’s brilliant depiction of fabrics and
materials –silk, fl esh and ermine, paper, wood and stone – evokes ideas about inspiration and
contemplation, sight and foresight, poetry and prophecy.