The Nativity with God the Father and Angels
after 1647
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione Italian, 1609-1664
Italy
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).
Etching on ivory laid paper