This image has been scaled down to fit your computer screen. Click on it to show it in the original size.






Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione
Genoa, 1609-Mantua, 1664
Madonna and Child in Glory with an Angel, ca. 1655
Brush and colored oil paint on cream antique laid paper, glued down on canvas.
An outstanding example of Castiglione’s mature style, this demonstrates his preference for oil paint on paper as well as his complex synthesis of styles, from Rubens and Van Dyck, to Lanfranco and Bernini. Although the motif recalls several altarpieces by the artist, and its loaded pigment and visible brushwork resemble those of a bozzetto – a preparatory study in oil, this sketch was apparently conceived as an autonomous work. Such studied were the most focused and sustained of Castiglione’s innumerable variations of motifs established in his paintings.