A native of Cento, Italy, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino, is arguably one of the most refined and prolific draftsmen of the seventeenth century. In this powerful and soulful ink drawing, Saint John the Evangelist is depicted as a handsome, curly-haired youth meditating the opening phrase of his Gospel, IN PRINCIPIO ERAT VERBUM (In the beginning was the word). Guercino accords his style with the contemplative nature of the subject: the bust-length figure, caught in near-profile, is rendered with gentle, loose ink lines, conveying the softness of the saint's blouse, with occasional dots used to create a smooth transition from light to deep shadow. A trademark of Guercino's sophisticated ink manner- possibly inspired by examples from contemporary printmaking- this "line and dot" modeling helps date the drawing to the mid-1640s, at the peak of the artist's successful career. The work's remarkable early popularity is shown through several drawn copies and at least three engraved versions, the latter executed respectively by Francesco Curti (1603-1672), Domenico Bonaveri (b. ca. 1640), and Francesco Bartolozzi (ca. 1725-1815) (who may have based his on Bonaveri's version.)(F.R.)