GRECHETTO, GIOVANNI BENEDETTO CASTIGLIONE, Called Il. - Genoese painter, b. in Genoa in 1610 (?), d. in Mantua in 1665. He had a mannerist education which he surpassed, moving from the school of G. B. Paggi to that of G. A. De Ferrari. He traveled a great deal, going to Florence, Rome, Naples, Bologna, Venice, and Mantua, where he was invited (ca. 1639) by the duke, and where he worked for a long time.

His figurative culture was enriched by diverse experiences with works by Strozzi, Van Dyck, Bassano and Giovanni Rosa; but his individuality as a fresh colorist and decorator, his whimsical pictorial dynamism and his noble chromatic taste are worthy of the great esteem in which his contemporaries held him. He treated scenes from the Old and New Testaments, genre paintings, mythological subjects, still lifes. Among his numerous works are the Presepe in S. Luca, the Crocifisso in S. Maria della Cella in Sampierdarena and the Cerere in Palazzo Doria, in Genoa. G. was also an engraver, and, as such, invented the monotype.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: P. K., s. v. in Thieme-Becker, VI, p. 164 (with bibl.); G. Delogu, G. B. Castiglione, « Il G. », Bologna 1928; id., Pittori minori liguri lombardi piemontesi del Seicento e Settecento, Venice 1931, see index; A. Morassi, Mostra della pittura del Seicento e Settecento in Liguria, Milan 1947, p. 63.

Luigi Grassi

@incollection{ec6_grechetto_giovanni_benedetto_c, author = {Grassi, Luigi}, title = {Grechetto, giovanni benedetto castiglione, detto il}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VI}, pages = {1033}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/grechetto-giovanni-benedetto-castiglione-detto-il} }

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Grechetto, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, called Il

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