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| Guercino Diana the Huntress 1658 oil on canvas Fondazione Sorgente Group |
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| Guercino Libyan Sibyl 1651 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
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| Guercino Personification of Astrology ca. 1650-55 oil on canvas Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin |
" ... his protagonists bring onto center stage a decisive, sometimes even dissonant chromatic force – especially with his invention of that shade of blue that foreshadows the later use of Prussian blue. This new sense of color as form seems to be associated with other successful material arts and expressions like embroidery, weaving, and especially ceramics. The skilled, forceful painting of red with azure blue has the completeness of a resplendent chromatic skin, almost as though it had an expressive autonomy."
– from Andrea Emiliani's essay in Guercino : Master Painter of the Baroque (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 1992)
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| Guercino Penitent Magdalene ca. 1650-55 oil on canvas private collection |
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| Guercino Return of the Prodigal Son 1654-55 oil on canvas Timken Museum of Art, San Diego |
". . . the returning son cries, a sign of his contrition as previously noted. Yet he also turns his head away from his father, an expression of shame in the sign language of rhetoric, to which we shall return. Furthermore, the hands of father and son are entwined in a classic gesture of reconciliation and, as carriers of meaning, are positioned at the center of the composition. The hands allude to a subsequent and theologically significant verse from the Gospel of Luke in which the father grants his forgiveness: "for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found" (Luke 15:24). Both figures face the viewer almost frontally and depict two moments in the narrative: contrition and forgiveness, climax and catharsis. Because no real action is depicted, but instead two morally significant emotional states – or the "essence" of the text – the figures, particularly that of the son, appear more artificial to modern eyes than those in any of the earlier versions. The communication of the passions is not achieved through the depiction of a real mood or a real action, but through recognized rhetorical gestures. This rather statue-stiffness, in which the protagonists serve primarily to exemplify moments of self-examination, is relieved by the figure of the page at left, who regards the viewer directly and, as in a theater, opens a curtain."
– from Sybille Ebert-Schifferer's essay in Guercino : Master Painter of the Baroque (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 1992)
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| Guercino Abraham rejects Hagar and Ishmael 1658 oil on canvas Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan |
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| Guercino Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness with Angel 1652-53 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
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| Guercino David with the head of Goliath 1650 oil on canvas National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo |
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| Guercino Lot and his daughters ca. 1650 oil on canvas Gemäldegalerie Dresden |
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| Guercino Assumption 1650 oil on canvas Detroit Institute of Arts |
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| Guercino Flagellation 1657 oil on canvas Palazzo Barberini, Rome |
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| Guercino Entombment 1656 oil on canvas Art Institute of Chicago |
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| Guercino Virgin & Child with four Saint-Patrons of Modena ca. 1651 oil on canvas Louvre |
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| Guercino St Luke displaying his portrait of the Virgin 1652-53 canvas Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City |