The first exhibition in Scotland devoted to the work of a 17th-century artist known as much for his lawlessness and impetuousity as his art will open this week.
Nearly 100 drawings by the Italian artist Castiglione, and a painting newly reattributed to him, will go on show at The Queen's Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
The exhibition, entitled Castiglione: Lost Genius, promises to shine a light on the master draughtsman's work, from oil drawings to pioneering monotype prints held in the Royal Collection.
The newly-conserved painting recently reattributed to Castiglione - one of only a few paintings by the artist to be found outside Italy - will also go on display.
Acquired by George III in 1762 as a work by Castiglione, the painting tells the story of Princess Io from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
By the 20th century, a gradual discolouration of varnish had masked the quality of the work, leading scholars to discount the original attribution and describe the painting simply as "Genoese School".
But recent cleaning and the removal of layers of varnish have revealed traits characteristic of Castiglione's work around 1640.
Despite being one of the most innovative and ground-breaking artists of the Italian Baroque, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione is relatively unknown today.
Born in 1609, his volatile temperament overshadowed his artistic brilliance and he struggled to achieve recognition during his lifetime.
He was repeatedly in court for assault; allegedly attempted to throw his sister off a roof; destroyed his own work in front of powerful patrons; and was forced to flee Rome in mysterious circumstances.
Exhibition curator Martin Clayton said: "Castiglione was a real enigma - a violent, impulsive man who nonetheless created some of the most lyrical works of the Baroque.
"His paintings are few and far between, so to discover his distinctive style hidden under the layers of discoloured varnish was tremendously exciting.
"It is a very fine painting and we are delighted that it is going to be the highlight of the very first exhibition in Scotland devoted to this ground-breaking artist."
Castiglione: Lost Genius opens at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on Friday and runs until February 8 next year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article