Page 71 - Vision & Ecstasy - Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione's St. Francis.
P. 71
ROYAL COLLECTION TRUST / © HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II 2013
ROYAL COLLECTION TRUST / © HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II 2013
ROYAL COLLECTION TRUST / © HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II 2013
Fig. 29a G.B. CASTIGLIONE Fig. 29b G.B. CASTIGLIONE Fig. 30 G.B. CASTIGLIONE
St Francis receiving the Stigmata,The
St Francis in Prayer(?),The Royal Collection, St Francis Stigmatised holding the Cross, Royal Collection,Windsor Castle.
Windsor Castle. The Royal Collection,Windsor Castle.
synthesis.The appreciation for drawings of preparatory appearance but autonomous function began with Luca
Cambiaso’s virtual manufacture of drawings for local collectors. With the activity of the great Flemings and
especially that of Procaccini, that taste expanded to works in oil of small scale and summary execution. From
at least the 1640s, Castiglione had explored the technique’s potential for interpretations of his typical subjects,
and it had become part of his reputation. In his last decade, it was not just devotional subjects but this long
tradition of works on paper that was reconciled with the formal and expressive values of the High Baroque. The
resulting works combine extraordinary intimacy and grand sweep, overwhelming immediacy and convincing
transcendence. Saint Francis in Ecstasy stands on the threshold of this final development.
JONATHAN BOBER
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