Gallery of prints for sale

Friday 16 August 2019

Castiglione's etching, “Young Man with His Head Lowered, Wearing a Turban, Facing Left”, c1645/50


Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (aka Il Grechetto) (1609–1664)

“Young Man with His Head Lowered, Wearing a Turban, Facing Left” (TIB title) (Un jeune home ve de trois quarts …” Bartsch title), c1645/50, from the series of 16 plates (TIB 32–47), “Small Studies of Heads in Oriental Headdress”.

Etching on fine laid paper with small margins around the plate mark.
Size: (sheet) 11.9 x 8.7 cm; (plate) 11.1 x 8.1 cm.
Inscribed on plate at upper left: “GB/ Castiglione”.
Lifetime impression (based on the crisp quality of line showing no sign of wear to the printing plate); state i (of ii) before the addition of the number 8 at lower left (see the state ii impression at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/397019?&searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=Castiglione&offset=100&rpp=20&pos=106).

TIB 46(21). 42(30) (Paolo Bellini [ed.] 1982, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the Seventeenth Century”, vol 46, New York, Abaris Books, p. 48, cat. no 42); Bellini 1982 33 (Paolo Bellini 1982, “L'Opera incisa di Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione”, Milan); Bartsch XXI.30.42.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print (note that the BM shows the print tilted horizontally rather than vertically):
“Head looking down to left cast in shadow.”

See also the description of this print at the Rijksmuseum:

Condition: richly inked, crisp and well-printed impression (apart from an uninked speck on the figure’s neck) in excellent condition, with a small margin (approx. 3mm) around the plate mark.

I am selling this superb etching by the artist argued to be the inventor of the monotype for AU$353 (currently US$239.55/EUR216.10/GBP197.57 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).
If you are interested in purchasing this inventive and arresting study of a turbaned head in shadow that the Rijksmuseum proposes is “inspired by similar etchings by Rembrandt and Lievens” (see RP-P-OB-12.181), please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold