(Genoa 1624–1659)
Joseph’s Dream,
oil on canvas, 129.5 x 195.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
possibly Brignole Family, Palazzo Rosso, Genoa, 1847;
with Zamboni, Reggio Emilia;
Private European Collection

Literature:
possibly F. Alizeri, Guida artistica per la città di Genova, Genoa 1847, volume II, part I, p. 383 (as ‘Sovra la porta d’ingresso [del Palazzo Rosso] è un altro dipinto di Valerio Castello, che rappresenta il sogno di San Giuseppe’);
C. Manzitti, Valerio Castello, Turin 2004, p. 120, no. 79 (as Valerio Castello)

Valerio Castello painted the subject of Joseph’s Dream on several occasions over the course of his career. The horizontal format of the present painting has led scholars to identify it with the version once in the Palazzo Rosso, Genoa, the residence of the Brignole Sale family.

The subject is drawn from the Gospel according to Matthew (1: 20-23) which recounts how an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, warning him to leave Bethlehem to protect Christ from the slaughter of innocent children commanded by Herod. Here, in a fairly rare iconographic choice, even within Castello’s own production, Joseph is represented as a young man rather than the more usual white-haired old man. The elegance of the angel signals the influence of Giulio Cesare Procaccini who was active in the region of Liguria during the first quarter of the seventeenth century, while the dense application of colour and the rendering of the sleeping protagonist’s features recall the style of Bernardo Strozzi. In terms of composition, this canvas is very close to the altarpiece for the church of San Michele di Pagana, Rapallo, dated by scholars to around 1650 (see A. Acordon, in: A. Acordon, M. Bolioli (eds.), La chiesa parrocchiale di San Michele di Pagana, Genoa 2005, pp. 106-107).

Valerio Castello was born into a family of artists, however he was orphaned at the age of five. Although his family planned for him to undertake literary studies, his talent as a painter rapidly revealed itself. His initial training was undertaken through the study of the drawings left by his father, Bernardo, and through the close observation of the Mannerist fresco decorations in the most important Genoese palaces, especially those of Perin del Vaga in the Villa del Principe commissioned by Andrea Doria.

Valerio frequented the studio of Domenico Fiasella, which was the most active and celebrated of the era in Genoa, as well as that of Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari, however the most important turning point in his education came with a study trip to Milan and Parma which he undertook with his friend and colleague Agostino Merano. This phase of his visual education allowed him to broaden his knowledge of the styles of Correggio and of Giulio Cesare Procaccini (whose production was already known to him, thanks to his Genoese work, particularly the monumental Last Supper in Santissima Annunziata del Vasto of 1618). On returning to his native city in 1646, Castello dedicated himself to the production of both sacred and secular works, on canvas and in fresco. The artist died suddenly in 1659 aged only thirty-four, yet he had managed to assert himself as one of the most important painters in seventeenth century Italy.