Figure Facing Left, from the series Small Studies of Heads Artist: Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Italian, 1609–1664)

1645–50

Prints and Drawings

By appointment, Duffy Study Room

In Genoa, Italy, a port city that traded regularly with the Ottoman Empire, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione may have encountered Turkish or North African merchants, but his series Small Studies of Heads depicts imagined types rather than likenesses of real people. The lavish headdresses, caricatured expressions, and gender ambiguity of many of these figures play into contemporary stereotypes that defined non-European cultures by their differences from Western European society. This is further emphasized by Castiglione’s decision to sign his works “Genovese,” marking his Italian identity in opposition to the “foreignness” of his subjects.

Medium

Etching

Dimensions

platemark: 4 7/16 × 3 5/16 in. (11.2 × 8.4 cm)

Credit Line

Edward B. Greene, B.A. 1900, Fund

Accession Number

1962.9.3

Geography

Made in Italy

Culture

Italian

Period

17th century

Classification

Prints

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
See 1962.9.2
Bibliography
  • Sue Welsh Reed and Richard Wallace, Italian Etchers of the Renaissance and Baroque, exh. cat. (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1989), 265, fig. 138
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

etchings

Inscriptions

On plate: TL, G/Castilione/Genovese/BL, OI (10) TR, Pag. 126.

Technical metadata and APIs

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