The Italian Baroque painter Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione was an animal painter, landscape painter, portrait painter, history painter, graphic artist, printmaker, draughtsman, engraver and etcher. At the beginning of the 17th century as the elder son of the couple Giulia Varese and Gio. Francesco Castiglione, he was convinced that he descended from Greek ancestors and therefore called himself Grechetto (little Greek). Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione had a sister and a brother 11 years younger called Salvatore Castiglione, who also became a painter.
According to later research, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione probably entered the studio of the Genoese painter Giovanni Battista Paggi at a very young age and became his student. Sinibaldo Scorza and Bernardo Strozzi were also among his teachers. Moreover, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione took early inspiration from the Flemish painters Peter Paul Rubens, who stayed in Genoa at the beginning of the 17th century, and Anthony van Dyck, who arrived there in 1621. When Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione was about 20 years old, his idols Paggi and Scorza died and he let their style live on in his works.
In Rome, where he travelled with his younger brother Salvatore, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione joined the Accademia di San Luca. It had existed since the 16th century and all the famous painters of that time belonged to it. From then on, Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin, Pietro Testa, Gian Lorenzo Bernini as well as the old masters Tizian and Raffael were among the models of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. While Castiglione stayed in other cities like Naples, he worked as a painter and engraver. Contrary to tradition, he did not work out his pictures in preliminary studies. The finished works bear witness to great technical brilliance. Among his contemporaries, however, he was known not only for his skill but also for his lack of control. He is said to have threatened a fellow artist who made fun of his working methods with a pistol.
At the end of the 1630s Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione returned to his hometown Genoa, where he married the Genoese Maddalena Cotuzia in the early 40s. The couple had a son, named after his grandfather Giovanni Francesco, who, like his father, took up the profession of painter. At the end of the 1640s, one year after the birth of his daughter Livia Maria, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione returned to Rome with his family. He liked to paint pictures of animals and landscapes. A popular motif was Noah with his ark and animals. Castiglione is also credited with having invented the monotype, a mixture of drawing and prints. This art fell into oblivion, however, before 250 years later artists such as Bernardo Strozzi0, Bernardo Strozzi1 or Bernardo Strozzi2 were revived. According to historical court records, it is believed that Castiglione had to leave Rome because he tried to throw his sister off a roof and was charged with attempted murder.
In the last years of his life Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione worked as court painter for the Ducal family of Mantua. Because of the successful light and shadow effects in his paintings he was called the second Rembrandt. From this time it is said that Castiglione, in anger, destroyed one of his paintings with a knife in front of the assembled court. The works of art still preserved by Castiglione can be admired today in Rome, Genoa, Naples, Venice, Florence and Mantua. They also enrich private and public art collections in Munich, Dresden, Vienna, Paris, Windsor, Houston, Ottawa and New York.
The Italian Baroque painter Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione was an animal painter, landscape painter, portrait painter, history painter, graphic artist, printmaker, draughtsman, engraver and etcher. At the beginning of the 17th century as the elder son of the couple Giulia Varese and Gio. Francesco Castiglione, he was convinced that he descended from Greek ancestors and therefore called himself Grechetto (little Greek). Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione had a sister and a brother 11 years younger called Salvatore Castiglione, who also became a painter.
According to later research, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione probably entered the studio of the Genoese painter Giovanni Battista Paggi at a very young age and became his student. Sinibaldo Scorza and Bernardo Strozzi were also among his teachers. Moreover, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione took early inspiration from the Flemish painters Peter Paul Rubens, who stayed in Genoa at the beginning of the 17th century, and Anthony van Dyck, who arrived there in 1621. When Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione was about 20 years old, his idols Paggi and Scorza died and he let their style live on in his works.
In Rome, where he travelled with his younger brother Salvatore, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione joined the Accademia di San Luca. It had existed since the 16th century and all the famous painters of that time belonged to it. From then on, Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin, Pietro Testa, Gian Lorenzo Bernini as well as the old masters Tizian and Raffael were among the models of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. While Castiglione stayed in other cities like Naples, he worked as a painter and engraver. Contrary to tradition, he did not work out his pictures in preliminary studies. The finished works bear witness to great technical brilliance. Among his contemporaries, however, he was known not only for his skill but also for his lack of control. He is said to have threatened a fellow artist who made fun of his working methods with a pistol.
At the end of the 1630s Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione returned to his hometown Genoa, where he married the Genoese Maddalena Cotuzia in the early 40s. The couple had a son, named after his grandfather Giovanni Francesco, who, like his father, took up the profession of painter. At the end of the 1640s, one year after the birth of his daughter Livia Maria, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione returned to Rome with his family. He liked to paint pictures of animals and landscapes. A popular motif was Noah with his ark and animals. Castiglione is also credited with having invented the monotype, a mixture of drawing and prints. This art fell into oblivion, however, before 250 years later artists such as Bernardo Strozzi0, Bernardo Strozzi1 or Bernardo Strozzi2 were revived. According to historical court records, it is believed that Castiglione had to leave Rome because he tried to throw his sister off a roof and was charged with attempted murder.
In the last years of his life Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione worked as court painter for the Ducal family of Mantua. Because of the successful light and shadow effects in his paintings he was called the second Rembrandt. From this time it is said that Castiglione, in anger, destroyed one of his paintings with a knife in front of the assembled court. The works of art still preserved by Castiglione can be admired today in Rome, Genoa, Naples, Venice, Florence and Mantua. They also enrich private and public art collections in Munich, Dresden, Vienna, Paris, Windsor, Houston, Ottawa and New York.
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