Castiglione: Lost Genius

Castiglione: Lost Genius—Masterworks on Paper from the Royal Collection features 90 of the finest drawings, etchings and monotypes by the master draftsman, painter, and printmaker Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. A forgotten master from the Italian baroque, Castiglione was a self-proclaimed genius, whose artworks entered the Royal Collection in 1762. The exhibition explores Castiglione’s mastery of art and how he produced brilliant works despite his turbulent private life that prevented him from becoming more widely known.

Castiglione was not only a painter and draftsman, he was the revolutionary inventor of the monotype in the 1640s, experimenting with the medium centuries before subsequent artists such as Degas and Gauguin would during the late nineteenth century. This print method allowed Castiglione to make a print from one-off designs, allowing him to combine the brio and dash of his draftsmanship with his interest in printmaking.

This exhibition is co-curated by Timothy Standring, Gates Foundation Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the DAM, and Martin Clayton, Head of Prints and Drawings at Royal Collection Trust. Standring has been captivated by Castiglione since his graduate studies more than 30 years ago, and is now one of the world's foremost authorities on the artist.

Transcripts of the audio guide are available in English (PDF) and in Spanish (PDF).

An exhibition catalog is available for purchase in The Shops and online.