Nativity with God the Father and Angels

Details

GIOVANNI BENEDETTO CASTIGLIONE (1609-1669)
Nativity with God the Father and Angels
etching, circa 1647, on laid paper, watermark Trimount with Fleur-de-Lys in a Double Circle with Pendant Letters A N (Heawood 1622; first recorded in Rome, 1647), a very good impression of the second, final state, printing with good clarity and contrasts, just beginning to show some wear in the most densely worked areas, with thread margins or trimmed to or just within the platemark in places, in very good condition
Plate 294 x 204 mm.
Sheet 295 x 207 mm.

Provenance

With Colnaghi & Co., London (their stocknumber C. 33864 in pencil verso).
Eric G. Stanley (1913-2018), Oxford; acquired from the above in 1975.

Literature

Bartsch 11; Bellini 19

Conditions of sale

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Stefano Franceschi Specialist

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Lot Essay

A drawing of the same subject in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle (inv. RCIN 903932), executed in black chalk and watercolour, has been acknowledged as the preparatory drawing for the present etching. The drawing, in reverse and with outlines, has recently been re-attributed to the son and assistant of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, Giovanni Francesco. The subject of the Nativity was a dear one to Castiglione, who depicted it in several other compositions and media, including a monotype, a technique of which he was one of the earliest experimenters. The monotype, dated circa 1655, exists in two impressions, the earlier in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, the second in the Royal Collection, Windsor. The figures of God the Father and the Angels in the monotype show clear similarities with the present composition.

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