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Explore the exhibition 'Castiglione: Lost Genius' at The Queen's Gallery, Edinburgh opening November 2014.
This exhibition is in the past. View our current exhibitions.
GIOVANNI BENEDETTO CASTIGLIONE (1609-64)

An Allegory in Honour of the Duchess of Mantua

c. 1650-55

RCIN 904052

To the left are symbols of worldly activity – a globe and charts, musical instruments, a hunting dog with a dead hare. In a related painting the men are identifiable as Mars, god of war, reclining on a breastplate, and Time, leaning against a tomb. Both drawing and painting probably mark the birth in 1652 of the son of Carlo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, who had reportedly befriended Castiglione in Rome a few years earlier. An allegory on the limits of temporal power would have been understood as central to a prince’s education.

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