Castiglione
A collection of Castiglione's finest works re-examined in light of new archival research into the artist’s turbulent career and reputation.
GIOVANNI BENEDETTO CASTIGLIONE (1609-64)
The Nativity with God the Father
c. 1650-60Red-brown oil paint on paper | 39.8 x 54.8 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 904058
A drawing of the Virgin cradling the head of the Christ Child who lies in the manger. God the Father appears above accompanied by angels amidst clouds.
The central group resembles closely the etching of c.1650, RCIN 830452.
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione was born and trained in Genoa, though he also worked in Rome, Naples and Mantua. He may have picked up the technique of drawing in oil paint on paper from Anthony Van Dyck, who was in Genoa intermittently between 1621 and 1627. The flowing strokes of the brush that this technique allowed were ideally suited to Castiglione’s verve as a draughtsman, and he produced many oil drawings throughout his career, mostly as independent works of art rather than studies for paintings.
The recurrence of certain favourite subjects - especially the journeys of herdsmen or figures from the Old Testament - makes the dating of his drawings problematic, for it is difficult to associate drawings and paintings with confidence. Castiglione treated the theme of the Nativity many times, in an altarpiece, etchings, pen-and-wash drawings, watercolours, a monotype and other oil drawings. This rendering is unusually dramatic in the closeness with which God the Father and his cherubs press in on the Madonna and Child. Castiglione used a wide range of proportions of pigment to oil in the drawing, from shadowy lines of oil with little pigment in the background, to dry strokes of dark pigment to accentuate the faces and draperies. These strong variations of density across the composition may date the drawing to the 1650s, when Castiglione was mainly based in his home city.
In the last years of his life Castiglione worked mainly for Mantuan patrons, notably the 9th Duke, Carlo II Gonzaga (1629-65), and it is possible that many of Castiglione’s drawings were acquired by the Duke after the artist’s death. In 1707 Carlo’s son Ferdinando Carlo (1650-1708) was forced to accept Austrian rule in Mantua and moved to Venice, where he sold off much of the family collection. This may have been the means by which Castiglione became so well known and admired in that city in the eighteenth century. He was a strong influence on Giovanni Battista Tiepolo in particular, and his drawings were to be found in the collections of Zaccaria Sagredo, Francesco Algarotti and Anton Maria Zanetti. Joseph Smith bought the bulk of his Castigliones from the heirs of Sagredo at some point between 1743 and 1755; they were listed in Smith’s will of 1761 as ‘four Volumes containing original drawings by Gio. Benedetto Castiglione great part whereof are the most capital of his Performance, these likewise belong’d to the said Nobleman Sagredo’. In 1762 the 260 drawings, oil sketches and monotypes were acquired by George III with the rest of Smith’s collection.
Text adapted from Holbein to Hockney: Drawings from the Royal Collection
The central group resembles closely the etching of c.1650, RCIN 830452.
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione was born and trained in Genoa, though he also worked in Rome, Naples and Mantua. He may have picked up the technique of drawing in oil paint on paper from Anthony Van Dyck, who was in Genoa intermittently between 1621 and 1627. The flowing strokes of the brush that this technique allowed were ideally suited to Castiglione’s verve as a draughtsman, and he produced many oil drawings throughout his career, mostly as independent works of art rather than studies for paintings.
The recurrence of certain favourite subjects - especially the journeys of herdsmen or figures from the Old Testament - makes the dating of his drawings problematic, for it is difficult to associate drawings and paintings with confidence. Castiglione treated the theme of the Nativity many times, in an altarpiece, etchings, pen-and-wash drawings, watercolours, a monotype and other oil drawings. This rendering is unusually dramatic in the closeness with which God the Father and his cherubs press in on the Madonna and Child. Castiglione used a wide range of proportions of pigment to oil in the drawing, from shadowy lines of oil with little pigment in the background, to dry strokes of dark pigment to accentuate the faces and draperies. These strong variations of density across the composition may date the drawing to the 1650s, when Castiglione was mainly based in his home city.
In the last years of his life Castiglione worked mainly for Mantuan patrons, notably the 9th Duke, Carlo II Gonzaga (1629-65), and it is possible that many of Castiglione’s drawings were acquired by the Duke after the artist’s death. In 1707 Carlo’s son Ferdinando Carlo (1650-1708) was forced to accept Austrian rule in Mantua and moved to Venice, where he sold off much of the family collection. This may have been the means by which Castiglione became so well known and admired in that city in the eighteenth century. He was a strong influence on Giovanni Battista Tiepolo in particular, and his drawings were to be found in the collections of Zaccaria Sagredo, Francesco Algarotti and Anton Maria Zanetti. Joseph Smith bought the bulk of his Castigliones from the heirs of Sagredo at some point between 1743 and 1755; they were listed in Smith’s will of 1761 as ‘four Volumes containing original drawings by Gio. Benedetto Castiglione great part whereof are the most capital of his Performance, these likewise belong’d to the said Nobleman Sagredo’. In 1762 the 260 drawings, oil sketches and monotypes were acquired by George III with the rest of Smith’s collection.
Text adapted from Holbein to Hockney: Drawings from the Royal Collection
