Bernardo Castello

With Colnaghi, London, by 1993;

where acquired by Jeffrey Horvitz (bears his collector's mark, not in Lugt),

his sale, New York, Sotheby's, 23 January 2008, lot 35;

where acquired by Jimmy Younger (1928-2022), Houston,

his estate sale, New York, Sotheby's, 31 January 2024, lot 217

New York, Colnaghi, Master Drawings, 1993, no. 15, also travelled to Paris and London.

This very finished drawing, executed in red chalk and wash, is a rarity in Castello's graphic oeuvre. The majority of his drawings are in pen and brown ink, often on blue paper, heightened with white. Possibly the largest group of Castello drawings is in the Palazzo Rosso, Genoa, which holds an album of 142 sheets illustrating the New Testament, all executed in pen. Another series was that made by Castello in 1586 to illustrate Torquato Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme Liberata. The book was published in 1590, and established Castello's reputation as an artist; indeed, Tasso was so pleased with his designs that he wrote a sonnet in Castello's honour.

When this drawing was offered in these Rooms in 2008 (see Provenance), Mary Newcome Schleier assisted in the cataloguing. Dr. Newcome Schleier kindly pointed out the resemblance between the elongated figures and those in the Gerusalemme Liberata series, indicating that this sheet must date from the same period; she also noted that the landscape in the background is far more finished than is usual in Castello's work, linking this drawing with the miniatures of the artist's brother, Giovanni Battista Castello (see lot 4).