Lost Guercino Altarpiece Discovered in Aversa Church

A long-lost altarpiece by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as Guercino (Cento, 1591 – Bologna, 1666), has been rediscovered in the church of San Francesco in Aversa, in the Caserta province of Campania. The painting, titled "Madonna Assunta in Cielo" (Assumption of the Virgin), was identified by professor Massimo Pulini, a leading expert on the Baroque master, through extensive archival research. Pulini examined approximately 180,000 images from the Catholic Church's online photographic archive, where he found the work still in its original location. Attribution was confirmed by two entries in Guercino's account book from 1650, noting an "Assunta in Cielo per Napoli," and by iconographic details recorded by biographer Malvasia, such as the presence of the sepulcher and apostles in the distance. A 19th-century engraving reproducing the artist's preparatory sketch further corroborated the find. The altarpiece likely originated from a commission by the Poor Clares of San Francesco in Aversa, who in 1645 received papal permission to spend 6,000 scudi on church repairs and embellishments. Pulini notes that Guercino had previously painted a work for the same order, Saint Margaret of Cortona, for a church in Cesena. The discovery will be presented at the conference "Guercino a Piacenza," accompanying the major exhibition at Palazzo Farnese in Piacenza from March 4 to June 4, 2017, where Pulini will showcase preparatory drawings, engravings, and documents.