Nativity with God the Father and Angels

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.