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Valerio Castello
Genoa 1625 - 1659
the adoration of the magi
oil on canvas
138.8 by 170.6 cm.; 54 3/4 by 67 in.
Castello turned to the subject of The Adoration of the Magi many times in his career and, in particular, in his maturity during the sixth decade of the 17th Century (see C. Manzitti, Valerio Castello, Genoa 1972, pp. 181-185, cat. nos. 101-4). What most of these paintings have in common is a colourful palette and the dramatic use of architectural features to frame the elements of their compositions. As in another painting of the same subject in a Genoese private collection (op. cit., cat. no. 102, reproduced in colour plate ix), Castello has chosen to incorporate a standing and/or crouching figure at the edge of his canvas, thus functioning as repoussoir figures leading one's eye into the picture. The Madonna and Child's positioning beneath the rustic cover of a stable, here set rather incongruously against classical architectural ruins, is similar to that in other paintings of this subject and a date in the mid-1650s for the present painting seems reasonable.