Circe changing Ulysses's Men into Beasts

Details

GIOVANNI BENEDETTO CASTIGLIONE (1609-1665)
Circe changing Ulysses's Men into Beasts
etching, circa 1651, on laid paper, without watermark, a fine impression of the second, final state, printing richly, with good clarity and contrasts, with margins, minor pale foxing, a diagonal fold at upper centre, otherwise in very good condition
Plate 216 x 309 mm.
Sheet 233 x 325 mm.

Provenance

Charles Lenormant du Coudray (1712-1789), Orléans (Lugt 1704), dated 1737.
Unidentified, inscribed L [?] Aug. 4/35 (not in Lugt).
With C. G. Boerner, Düsseldorf.
A Family Collection, USA; acquired from the above in 1977.

Literature

Bartsch 22; Bellini 60

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Traditionally the subject of this etching had been interpreted as an allegory of Melancholy, including by Adam Bartsch, but more recently scholars seem to agree on the identification of the figure as the sorceress Circe. Although there is no drawing or painting in the artist's oeuvre directly related to this print, Castiglione treated the subject repeatedly in different mediums. There is a rapid sketch depicting Circe at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (inv. no. 1984-56-39), a drawing in the Royal Collection, Windsor (inv. no. 904067), and a number of paintings, including one version in the Uffizi, Florence.

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