Image series 09 / 2022: Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione
Character Heads
27 February 2022
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By: Bettina Pfleging
In the mid-17th century, the Italian Baroque artist Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione used a special method of creating images by hand, the monotype, a mixture of drawing and printmaking. The motif is applied with paint to a smooth surface and then pressed onto a sheet of paper while it is still wet. This usually produces a single print with a watercolour-like effect and dramatic light-dark effect. In his prints and drawings he depicted, among other things, individual heads, some with oriental headdresses.
On the basis of around 80 works on paper, the exhibition focuses on his graphic work.
„Baroque Brilliance. Drawings and Prints by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione“
until 6 March 2022, Kunsthaus Zürich
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. Hoofd van een slapende oude man – Hoofd van een slapende oude man | Grote studie van hoofden met oosterse hoofddeksels, Ausschnitt, 1645 – 1650, paperetching, 182 × 152 mm, Amsterdam; Rijksmuseum Collection, Amsterdam
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. Hoofd van jongeman met hoge muts – Hoofd van jongeman met hoge muts | Hoofd van een jonge vrouw | Kleine studie van hoofden met oosterse hoofddeksels, Ausschnitt, 1645 – 1650, paperetching, 109 × 81 mm, Amsterdam; Rijksmuseum Collection, Amsterdam
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. Hoofd van een jonge man met tulband – Hoofd van een jonge man met tulband | Kleine studie van hoofden met oosterse hoofddeksels, Ausschnitt, 1645 – 1650, paperetching, 108 × 81 mm, Amsterdam; Rijksmuseum Collection, Amsterdam
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. Head of a man in shadow turned slightly to the left, from the series of ‘Large Oriental Heads’, Ausschnitt, ca. 1645–1650, Etching, 18 × 14,5 cm, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. Head of a man wearing a feathered cap (possibly Bernini, possibly a self portrait), from the series of ‘Large Oriental Heads’, Ausschnitt, ca. 1645–1650, Etching, 19,3 × 14 cm, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. Man holding a scroll in front of his face, from the series of ‘Small Heads in Oriental Headdress’, Ausschnitt, ca. 1645–50, Etching, 11 × 8 cm, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. Man in profile facing right, wearing a fur hat, from series of ‘Small Heads in Oriental Headdress’, Ausschnitt, ca. 1645–1650, Etching, 11 × 8 cm, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. Head of a Man in Oriental Turban, Ausschnitt, c. 1650, etching, Cleveland; The Cleveland Museum of Art
