The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 1, 2023

Portrait of Roberto Castiglione

early 1600s

Italy, Cremona, 17th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 147.3 x 120.6 x 10.2 cm (58 x 47 1/2 x 4 in.); Unframed: 121.2 x 98.7 cm (47 11/16 x 38 7/8 in.)

Holden Collection 1916.804

Location

not on view

Description

The inscription on the bottom of this painting identifies the sitter of this commemorative portrait as Roberto Castiglione, a magistrate and imperial vicar for the Spanish empire in the 1200s. His identity is further supported by the coat of arms in the upper left. A red shield ornamented by a lion holding a castle with three towers in his right paw, the crest belongs to the Castiglione family, which was primarily based in Milan, but had branches in Cremona as well. His gloved left hand holds a prayer book and the glove for his bare right hand, which holds back the fur trim of his mantle.

Inscriptions

Inscription

inscribed at bottom: ROBERTUS CASTILLIONEUS CREMONAE PRETOR ET IMPERIALIS VICARIUS AN D MCCXXXXVI

Provenance
James Jackson Jarves;
Mrs. Liberty E. Holden, Cleveland, 1884, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916.
Citations
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 453; Mentioned: p. 452
Rubinstein-Bloch, Stella. Catalogue of a Collection of Paintings, Etc. Presented by Mrs. Liberty E. Holden to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1917. Mentioned: p. 25-26, cat. no. 22 archive.org
G. U. "The Holden Collection." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 2 (1917): 19-34. Reproduced: Cover; mentioned: p. 20 www.jstor.org
Exhibition history

Boston, "American Exhibition of Foregin Products, Arts, and Manufactures: Art Department, Jarves Collection," no. 434.

Cleveland, 1894: "Cleveland Art Loan Exhibition," no. 7.

Inaugural Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 6-September 20, 1916).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.804