Commissioned from the artist by Pietro Mancurti, along with a pendant representing Saint John the Baptist in the desert, in circa 1655;
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 17 December 1998, lot 63;
With Colnaghi & Co., London, from𒉰 whom acquired by the present owner.

Florence, Palazzo Corsini, Mostra Mercato Internazionale dell'Antiquariato, where exhibited by Colnaghi & Co.;
Iglesias, Palazzina Bellavista, Le collezioni ritrovate di Guercino, 30 April - 30 August 2003, p. 11, reproduced plate V;
Milan, Palazzo Reale, Guercino. Poesia e Sentimento nella Pittura del '600,&n♑bsp;27 September 2003 – 18 January 2004, no. 47.

M. Pulini, Le collezioni ritrovate di Guercino, exhibition catalogue, Iglesias, Palazzina Bellavista, 30 April - 30 August 2003, p. 11, reproduced plate V;
M. Pulini, in Guercino. Poesia e Sentimento nella Pittura del '600, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Palazzo Reale, 27 September 2003 – 18 January 2004, pp. 184-85, cat. no. 47, reproduced in colour.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has a very old lining and stretcher. The texture is characteristically granular, but has also become quite frizzled in places, especially near the upper right corner, presumably during the lining. There is scarcely any accidental damage at all, apart from one small filled knock in the sky at centre left. The head and hands are in especially fine intact condition, with the brushwork exceptionally well preserved. The drapery is also in good condition. There has been a recent restoration with many little cosmetic touches in the sky, particularly in the blue at upper left, a scattering of minor little touches in the lighter drapery and some touches down the right edge, although the edges are remarkably undamaged. There is no retouching in the finely preserved head nor in the hands. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This mature work by Guercino, painted in the mid-1650s, was conceived as a pendant to a Saint John the Baptist in the desert (as yet untraced). The painting's existence was only known through documents until its first appearance at auction in these Rooms in 1998. The handling of paint is entirely consistent with other works by Guercino of the same date and the emphasis on textures, so beautifully preserved in the present unlined canvas, is characteristic of this period in the artist's œuvre: the softness of Saint Andrew's hair and beard, comparable to that of numerous old men in Guercino's paintings dating from around this time, contrasts with the weightiness of the lilac cloth, and the detailed rendering of veins and wrinkles on the saint's hands is also typical of Guercino's work at this date.¹

The pair of pictures are described in Guercino's account books, where the artist records receiving payment on 16 December 1655 for the Saint John: 'Dal Sig:^r Gouernatore di Cento si e riceuto Ducatoni n:^o 55. per la Meza Figura del S: Giouani, nel deserto', and on 16 March of the following year Guercino is paid for the present picture: 'Dal Ill:^mo Sig:^r Gouernatore di Cento Si e riceuto Vngari n:^o 32- che fano, Ducatoni n:^o 55. per il pagamento del San: Andrea, di Meza Figura e questi fano L 275- fano Scudi 68- L 3-'.²  The patron, described in Guercino's account books as the 'Governatore di Cento', was identified by Guelfi and Mahon as Pietro Mancurti. A native of Imola, Mancurti became governor of Cento in the 1650s and commissioned this pair of pictures during his tenure there. He almost certainly took the canvases back to Imola where he, or more likely his descendants, ordered copies to made of them for the Church of Sant'Agata in Imola (where they still hang in the Sacristy). Sir Denis Mahon, who endorsed the attribution to Guercino at the time of the painting's first appearance at auction in 1998 (see provenance below), has viewed the copies in Imola at firsthand and believes that they 🌠date from the the early 18th century, well after Guercino's own lifetime or his studio's activity.

Guercino's composition may have inspired Bartolomeo Gennari's painting of Saint Andrew bearing his cross today in the Pinacoteca Civica, Cento.³  Bartolomeo joined Guercino's workshop as a young man, working alongside Lorenzo Gennari, his brother Ercole, Benedetto Zalone, Matteo Loves and Paolo Antonio Barbieri. Although Bartolomeo began as a mere copyist of Guercino's paintings, he became the master's principal assistant after Lorenzo's departure in 1630 and subsequently produced independent works, often inspired (as here) by Guercino's originals. Bartolomeo died in January 1661 so his Saint Andrew, u♎ndoubtedly rela🥃ted to Guercino's painting for Mancurti, is a mature work.

1. The detailed depiction of hands and the textural rendering of a soft beard may be compared to those found in the figure of Joseph of Arimathaea in Guercino's Entombment of 1656 in the Art Institute, Chicago (see L. Salerno, I dipinti del Guercino, Rome 1988, p. 382, cat. no. 317, reproduced).
2. See B. Guelfi & D. Mahon, Il libro dei conti del Guercino 1629-1666, Bologna 1997, pp. 171-72, nos. 501 and 505 respectively.
3. Reproduced in M. Pulini, under Literature, 2003-4, p. 184.