The Italian painter Guercino (1591-1666) was probably the first Italian artist to create works that can be called fully baroque in the stylistic sense of the term.

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino because of his squint, was born early in February 1591 in Cento, a little town near Bologna. He went to Rome during the reign (1621-1623) of Pope Gregory XV, who was from Bologna; when the Pope died, Guercino returned to Cento. There he stayed until 1642, when he moved to Bologna, where he spent the rest of his life. He died on Dec. 22, 1666.

There had never been any important artists in Cento, and Guercino apparently taught himself, working largely from engravings and such paintings as were available locally. He said that the picture that influenced him most was Ludovico Carracci's Madonna with St. Francis in a local church. From it Guercino learned about deep, rich colors, applied loosely...