Diogenes Searching for an Honest Man

1640/1647

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione

Associated Names
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione

Artist, Italian, 1609 - 1664

A bearded man in a robe stands to the left, leaning forward with a tool in his right hand, examining an assemblage of objects including a large skull in the right foreground. Two animals sit facing the man to the right. Behind them is a landscape with trees and distant hills. The color palette is primarily in shades of sepia. The scene looks aged and classical. Detailed textures are present throughout the composition.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Neil Phillips

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 21.2 x 30.2 cm (8 3/8 x 11 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1997.16.1

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Bartsch, no. 21

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(R.G. Michel, Paris); purchased, with funds from Neil Phillips, by NGA, 1997.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2012

  • The Baroque Genius of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., 2012

Bibliography

1802

  • Bartsch, Adam. Le peintre graveur. 21 vols. Vienna, 1802-1821: Adam. Le peintre graveur. 21 vols. Vienna: J.V. Degen, 1802-1821.

Inscriptions

lower left in plate: G.BENED. CASTglion / in P.; lower center in plate: Al Sig: Nicolo Simonelli Mio Sigre / ...

Watermarks

Circle or orb

Wikidata ID

Q75403618

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