Italy, (c. 1609-1664)
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Circe changing the Companions of Ulysses into Boars
- (c. 1650s), oil on canvas
- 43.5 x 63 in. (110.5 x 160 cm.)
- Private collection
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Editor’s Note:
In the same decade as the work above, Castiglione also compleated two additional works with Circe as a theme. An etching and another oil on canvas both featured Circe in a feather-adorned turban, but neither featured any pigs of boars.
In this work Castiglione depicts Circe in the actual moment of transformation of one of Ulysses’ men into a boar. The other two works show her surrounded by an assortment of animals after the transformations and seemingly in a reflective mind set.
About the Artist
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (c. 1609-1664) was an Italian Baroque artist, painter, print maker and draftsman, of the Genoese school. He is best known now for his elaborate engravings, and as the inventor of the printmaking technique of monotyping. He was known as Il Grechetto in Italy and in France as Le Benédette. [DES-01/11]