The Alva de Mars Megan Chapel Art Center’s current exhibition is centered around a nearly 400 year old drawing entitled “Study of a Woman with a Hand Held to her Breast.” It is an ink on paper drawing, which Fr. Iain acquired over a year ago. He believed the drawing fit in with the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the college. The drawing entered the permanent collection in 2013, and was displayed for the public last November. The drawing will be on display until Friday, February 13th. Part of the Chapel Art Center’s MacDonald Collection, and represents religious faith and devotion.

The drawing was created by the Baroque artist, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri. He was given the nickname “il Guercino,” which is Italian for “squinter,” because of Barbieri being cross-eyed. He was a self-taught artist who eventually became one of the best-known Italian painters and draftsmen of the seventeenth century.

Known for his use of dramatic lighting, he utilizes the technique chiaroscuro, giving his drawings enhanced light and depth.

Chiaroscuro is a technique used to represent light and shadow in three-dimensional images. The technique gained popularity after Leonardo DiVinci used the technique in paintings such as his Adoration of the Magi.

Afterward, it was used to describe any painting, print, or drawing that depended on the technique to give a gradation of light and darkness.

The image was selected as the single image for last year’s promotion in Burlington Magazine of Master Drawings New York week of exhibitions. It has been studied by a plethora of art aficionados.

The drawing’s dimensions are 5 11/16 x 6 1/2 inches. It was drawn using pen and brown ink and wash on laid paper, which all work together to provide contrast and depth to the image. While the woman in the picture remains unidentified, experts have been able to link the work to others by Guercino. In the painting The Martyrdom of Saint Emerentiana, c. 1645, the figure appears to be reversed. The hand found across the woman’s chest in the painting suggests the woman’s modesty, which is also seen in another one of Guercino’s drawings in the Louvre’s collection.