Castiglione was a technically adventurous artist who produced hundreds of drawings in oil paint on paper, mostly independent works of art rather than studies for paintings. The flowing strokes of the brush that this technique encouraged were ideally suited to Castiglione’s verve as a draughtsman. This sheet depicts the sorceress Circe surrounded by the companions of Odysseus, whom she has turned into animals, and whose clothes and armour lie on the steps before her.