CASTIGLIONE, GIOVANNI BENEDETTO

born c. 1616, , Genoa died 1670, Mantua, Papal States byname Il Grechetto, French Le Bendette Italian painter and one of the most important technical innovators in the history of printmaking. Beginning in the highly artificial style of Mannerism, Castiglione was a productive painter who left portraits, historical pieces, and landscapes but who excelled in depicting fairs, markets, and rural scenes with animals. In his etchings he was influenced by the Dutch school: he admired the prints of Van Dyck and Rembrandt. He was the first known practitioner of the monotype, or single-print technique, and was one of the earliest to make chiaroscuro woodcuts. In his closing years he lived in Mantua, painting for the court in a flamboyant but naturalistic Baroque style. His brother Salvatore and his son Francesco studied with him and perpetuated his manner.