ANTONIO DEL CASTILLO Y SAAVEDRA (Córdoba, 1616 - 1668). "St. Christopher with Child". Pen and brown ink on paper.

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Córdoba: 2,000 Years of Art

By Setdart Auction House

Dec 21, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-12-21 07:30:00 2021-12-21 07:30:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Córdoba: 2,000 Years of Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/setdart-auction-house/c-rdoba-2-000-years-of-art-8049
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• Lot Description
  ANTONIO DEL CASTILLO Y SAAVEDRA (Córdoba, 1616 - 1668). "St. Christopher with Child". Pen and brown ink on paper. Presents inscription "Castillo", located in the lower left margin. Measurements: 14.5 x 10 cm; 37.5 x 28.5 cm (frame). Christopher is a saint whose legend goes back no further than the 11th century, originating from the development of his name, Christophorus, which in Greek means "the one who carries Christ". Originally, this expression was understood in a spiritual sense, as the one who carries Christ in his heart. Later it was taken in a material sense. According to the tradition popularized during the 13th century by the Golden Legend, the man who had carried Christ on his shoulders could only be a giant. Proud of his strength, he only agreed to serve the most powerful king in the universe. It is worth mentioning the great draftsmanship of Antonio del Castillo, which was praised by Palomino, who mentioned the great mastery of the author, as well as reflecting a great abundance in his work as a draftsman. In the article that talks about the painter, written by Benito Navarrete also makes a special mention to Castillo's work as a draftsman; "He is the most important draftsman of the Spanish Golden Age for his versatility, inventiveness and quantity of preserved drawings, in addition to the sustained quality of them". Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra was the son of an Extremaduran painter from Llerena, Agustín del Castillo, whose work is little known, but whom Palomino describes as "an excellent painter". He was orphaned in 1626 and was educated by another painter of whom we have no news, Ignacio Aedo Calderón. At an unknown date he may have arrived in Seville -of which there is no effective proof-, where Palomino makes him a pupil of Zurbarán, which has been corroborated in view of the stylistic influence of the master from Extremadura in Castillo's work. In 1635 he was in Cordoba, where he married and settled permanently, becoming without discussion the most important artist of the city. There he produced religious altarpieces as well as portraits and medium-sized series. His work does not show any evolution, and he always kept away from the baroque novelties of other contemporary painters. If in the figures of saints he remains closer to strict naturalism, in the historical productions he tends to be more open, especially because of the ornamentation of architectures and landscapes with which he decorates them. Palomino, already classified among the landscape painters by Lázaro Díaz del Valle, praised his capacity for capturing nature, describing him as "an excellent landscape painter, for which he went out for a few days to walk, with the purpose of drawing, and copied some places from nature". This assertion of the treatise writer is interesting, as it shows Antonio del Castillo to be especially interested in capturing nature, both in landscapes and in everyday characters and animals.
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