Gli affreschi di Casa Benotti del Guercino prima dello strappo

The article presents the unpublished images of the pictorial cycle of Casa Benotti, in Cento, still in place, before the tear that occurred in the 1960s. The paintings were probably executed by Guercino between the second and third decade of the 17th century and are now preserved in the local art gal￾lery. The autograph of the frieze, initially denied by Mahon, has recently been recon￾firmed by Turner and Stone.The new photo￾graphs finally allow us to know, after some unsatisfactory reconstruction attempts, the exact succession of the friezes on the walls of the room, but they also lend themselves to further observations regarding the state of conservation: the comparison between what is highlighted by the images and what is seen today in the fragments, in fact, high￾lights numerous small but significant differ￾ences, to be attributed from time to time to restorations or loss of pictorial surface