Man holding a scroll in front of his face, from "Small Heads in Oriental Headdress"
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 7/16 × 5 7/8 in. (21.5 × 15 cm) Plate: 4 5/16 × 3 1/8 in. (11 × 8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Kenneth Grebinar, 2005
Accession Number
2005.377.66
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the intimate etching *Man Holding a Scroll in Front of Face*, from Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione's seriesSmall Heads in Oriental He* (ca. 1645–50), we encounter a enigmatic figure whose dramatic gesture captivates the viewer. Italian Baroque master, known as Il Grechetto (160–1664), renders the man's hands clutching a large scroll that partially obscures his face, by an elaborate turban. This work exemplifies Castiglione's fascination with exotic costumes, likely drawn from imaginative Orientalist fantasies rather than direct observation, evoking the era's growing curiosity about distant c...
About the Artist
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Il Grechetto) · 1609–1664
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, known as Il Grechetto, was baptized on March 23, 1609, in Genoa and died on May 5, 1664, in Mantua. Born into a large family, he collaborated closely with his brother Salvatore, an artist who shared his talents, and later taught his son Francesco, whose works were sometimes confused with his own. His parents placed him in the studio of Giovanni Battista Paggi, where...