GRECHETTO, GIOVANNI BENEDETTO CASTIGLIONE, called il. - Genoese painter, b. in Genoa in 1610 (?), d. in Mantua in 1665. He received a Mannerist education, which he transcended, moving from the school of G. B. Paggi to that of G. A. De Ferrari. He travelled extensively, going to Florence, Rome, Naples, Bologna, Venice, and Mantua, where he was invited (ca. 1639) by the duke and worked for a long time.
His figurative culture was enriched by diverse experiences derived from works by Strozzi, Van Dyck, Bassano, and Giovanni Rosa; but his individuality as a fresh colourist and decorator, his imaginative pictorial dynamism, and his noble chromatic taste merit the great esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries. He treated scenes from the Old and New Testaments, genre paintings, mythological subjects, and still lifes. Among his numerous works are the Nativity in S. Luca, the Crucifix in S. Maria della Cella in Sampierdarena, and the Ceres in Palazzo Doria, in Genoa. G. was also an engraver and, as such, invented the monotype.