A bearded man wearing a tasseled headdress facing left, from "Heads in Oriental Headdress"

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Il Grechetto)

ca. 1648–50 · Etching · Drawings and Prints

This etching represents the motif of an exoticisng oriental head that Castiglione returned to many times in the 1640s. Perhaps partly inspired by the foreign traders who frequented the port city of Genoa, these character heads also stem back to the prints of Rembrandt and Jan Lievens. Castiglione produced two series of these exotic types, both large and small, in which he demonstrated his inventiveness and ability to produce a rich chiaroscuro of dramatic lighting with nothing more than an etcher’s needle.

Artist

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Il Grechetto)

Date

ca. 1648–50

Medium

Etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1917