Valerio Castello

Mrs. M. Campbell, London, until 1985;
By whom sold, London, Sotheby's, December 19, 1985, lot 46 (as by Circle of Valerio Castello), to Walpole;
With Walpole Gallery, London.

C. Manzitti, Valerio Castello, Turin 2004, p. 169, cat. no. 166, reproduced.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been quite recently restored. The canvas has been lined with glue. The paint layer is clean and has been varnished and retouched. The retouches attend to fairly numerous damages in some areas, particularly in the saint furthest on the right and the cherub above. Within the Madonna and Child itself the restorations attend to some small losses and spots of graininess and thinness; this kind of restoration shows under ultraviolet light throughout. There is a vertical damage between the head of the old woman in the lower left quadrant and the young girl holding the straw manger. In the head of Joseph on the far right there is a fairly elaborate tear running above and below his head and through his face. Another group of vertical tears has been restored through the back of the male figure on the left side, which extends through the headdress of the lady in the lower left. There are other vertical restorations in the upper left corner. The restorations, although quite numerous in some areas, have been well applied. The lining is sensitive and the varnish is reasonably effective. The restoration need not be reexamined and with a fresh varnish, the picture will be ready to hang.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Unknown to Manzitti at the time of his 1972 monograph, this painting was published for the first time by the author in his updated catalogue on Castello in 2004, after reappearing on the market in a Sotheby's London sale in 1985. Manzitti believes the painting to date from the middle of the 1650's, when the artist was producing numerous, yet unique, examples of presepio and other nativity scenes.¹

While early works by Castello are still rooted in the Mannerist tradition of the cinquecento, it is during his maturity that his style moves towards a more theatrical, Baroque aesthetic. In these years, Castello's brushwork begins to loosen and he adopts a style which would be described as bozzettistico ("sketchy"). This proves true even when working on a large scale, as shown in this canvas. The confident handling of the brush is particularly evident here in Castello's bold treatment of drapery. The same can be said of other Adoration scenes dating from the 1650's, such as that in a Bolognese private collection (Manzitti, op.cit., cat. no. 164), which also employs a multi-figure composition and bright pallette.  

Despite Castello's early training in the studios of the somewhat more traditional Genoese artists, Domenico Fiasella and Giovanni Andrea de'Ferrari, it was Perino del Vaga and Domenico Beccafumi's frescoes in the Palazza Doria at Fassolo (now destroyed) which were to have the greatest impact on the young artist's work. These frescoes were arguably amongst the most admired works of art available to Genoese artists during the first half of the 17th century, and Castello was no exception in copying and studying them.

 

1.  Manzitti, op.cit., p. 169.