Guercino and his Biblical Heroines

The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum will host a small format exhibition from 16 March to 14 June 2026, featuring a select group of works by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, better known as Il Guercino, a key figure in the development of Baroque painting in northern Italy. 

Curated by María Eugenia Alonso, focusing on the painting by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Cento, 1591- Bologna, 1666) in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum’s collection, Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well (around 1640-1641), this exhibition brings together a series of key paintings to study and show visitors how the painter approached the image of women in biblical narratives. The exhibition also includes paintings on loan from other institutions.  

The exhibition helps to highlight the significance of the representation of the female figure in the artist’s religious works through paintings in which he recreates certain biblical scenes in which women play a major role, such as Susanna and the Elders (Madrid, Prado National Museum), The Woman taken in Adultery (London, Dulwich Gallery) and Samson and Delilah (Strasbourg, Musée des Beaux-Arts).

Six canvases will be on display, highlighting his narrative abilities and mastery of gestural language in compositions in which women embody various biblical figures through the painter's highly personal vision. Anonymous women from the New Testament, such as the Samaritan woman and the adulteress, personify the model of the repentant sinner.  

Image Credit:

• Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri). Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well, Around 1640-1641. Oil on Canvas. 116 x 156 cm © Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, Madrid