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)
Studies of heads
c. 1635-40Pen and ink, brush and ink | 14.3 x 19.9 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 903944
A sheet with studies of six male heads, the two main studies of elderly men with elaborate headdresses
Castiglione is the first artist in Italy known to have borrowed directly from Rembrandt. He was particularly attracted to the Dutch artist’s nocturnal scenes and his expressiveness, and here he copied the five heads at the left from Rembrandt’s large Ecce Homo of 1636. The exotic figure to the right, while not a direct copy, is also very much in the manner of Rembrandt’s ‘character heads’.
The head on the right is perhaps the original of Saint- Non's engraving, Fragments, pl. 35