拍品專文
In the history of printmaking Castiglione is traditionally credited with the invention of the monotype. The technique looks back to the 16th Century practice of artists taking counterproofs from their drawings but Castiglione's use and development of the medium is far removed from this earlier practice, the execution of each work being essentially 'original' rather than 'secondary' in nature.
Twenty-four monotypes by Castiglione are recorded and can be divided into two groups: 'dark field' and 'white field' manners. The 'dark field' manner is produced by coating the surface of a plate with an even layer of ink and then drawing the lines of the design with an implement such as the end of a brush handle, and thus taking out the ink and so creating the white lines of the image. (See The Creation of Adam, Old Master Prints from Chatsworth, Christie's, 5 December 1985, lot 161, illustrated in colour). The 'white field' manner is the technique in reverse, working on a clean plate and building up the dark areas of the image as in a pen and wash drawing. The Head of an Oriental is one of nine recorded 'white field' monotypes. Nearly the whole of the composition is the work of the brush used in small light strokes for expressing the drawing as well as the light and shadow and the whole construction of the face. In addition an implement has been used, as in 'black field' monotypes, to pick out the lines to the band of the headdress and the highlights on the fur collar.
The unique quality of some of Rembrandt's etchings, created by varying the wiping of the tone applied to the plate before each impression was taken, may have been the stimulus for Castiglione's monotypes. The Dutch master's influence is clearly evident in Castiglione's series of six etchings of Large Studies of Heads in Oriental Headdress (Bartsch 48-52). The oriental in this monotype is similar, but in reverse to the first series (Bartsch 48). Calabi, op. cit., 1923, p. 238 wrote 'This head is not only equal in dignity to the Heads of Orientals by Castiglione, but it is finer in the modelling, in the strength of the shadow and in the natural healthiness of the expression. In fact, the artist has here succeeded in finding for his idea its perfect means of expression'
Twenty-four monotypes by Castiglione are recorded and can be divided into two groups: 'dark field' and 'white field' manners. The 'dark field' manner is produced by coating the surface of a plate with an even layer of ink and then drawing the lines of the design with an implement such as the end of a brush handle, and thus taking out the ink and so creating the white lines of the image. (See The Creation of Adam, Old Master Prints from Chatsworth, Christie's, 5 December 1985, lot 161, illustrated in colour). The 'white field' manner is the technique in reverse, working on a clean plate and building up the dark areas of the image as in a pen and wash drawing. The Head of an Oriental is one of nine recorded 'white field' monotypes. Nearly the whole of the composition is the work of the brush used in small light strokes for expressing the drawing as well as the light and shadow and the whole construction of the face. In addition an implement has been used, as in 'black field' monotypes, to pick out the lines to the band of the headdress and the highlights on the fur collar.
The unique quality of some of Rembrandt's etchings, created by varying the wiping of the tone applied to the plate before each impression was taken, may have been the stimulus for Castiglione's monotypes. The Dutch master's influence is clearly evident in Castiglione's series of six etchings of Large Studies of Heads in Oriental Headdress (Bartsch 48-52). The oriental in this monotype is similar, but in reverse to the first series (Bartsch 48). Calabi, op. cit., 1923, p. 238 wrote 'This head is not only equal in dignity to the Heads of Orientals by Castiglione, but it is finer in the modelling, in the strength of the shadow and in the natural healthiness of the expression. In fact, the artist has here succeeded in finding for his idea its perfect means of expression'