Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione
Italian, 1609-1664
The Nativity with God the Father and Angels
INV-4078
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione
Italian, 1609-1664after 1647
The Nativity with God the Father and Angels
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione Italian, 1609-1664 →printprints and drawing
Date
after 1647
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
20.5 × 40.2 cm (8 1/8 × 15 7/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Harold Joachim Purchase Fund
Although he was Genoese by birth, Giovanni Battista Castiglione worked among the greatest artists in Baroque Rome. A prolific painter, etcher, and draftsman, he produced several innovative renditions of the Nativity. The epic horizontal sweep of the present etching emphasizes the cosmic power of Christ’s heavenly father (entirely omitting Joseph, Christ’s earthly stepfather). This conceit reappears in an intimate vertical format in God the Father Regarding His Newborn Son (1972.986).
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