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| Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Two Draped Male Figures (study for fresco, The Calling of Matthew) ca. 1559 drawing British Museum |
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| Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) The Calling of Matthew (study for fresco) ca. 1559 drawing British Museum |
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| Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) The Calling of Matthew ca. 1559 fresco Chiesa di San Matteo, Genoa |
"Giovanni Battista Castello (1509-1569) – Italian painter, sculptor and architect, born at Gandino in the Valle Serlana, in the territory of Bergamo. He is commonly called Il Bergamasco to distinguish him from Giovanni Battista Castello of Genoa (1547-1637), called Il Genovese, who was a miniature-painter. When young, Il Bergamasco was entrusted to the care of Qurelio Busso of Crema, a pupil of Polidoro da Caravaggio. That painter took him to Genoa, and after some time left him in that city, unprotected and without means, but considerably advanced in his studies. A Genoese nobleman, Tobia Pallavicino, took the young Castello under his protection and sent him to Rome to study the great masters there, where he became very proficient. On his return to Genoa, he decorated the palace of his protector and painted some frescoes in the church of San Marcellino. He made a great reputation by his painting of the martyrdom of St Sebastian in the monastery of San Sebastiano and, together with his younger friend Luca Cambiaso (1527-1585) was employed by the Duke Grimaldi in the Nunziata di Portoria in Genoa, Castello painting on the ceiling of the choir the Savior as judge of the world, and Luca painting the laterals with the fate of the Blessed and the Reprobate. . . . Towards the latter part of his life Il Bergamasco was invited by Philip II to visit Spain, and was employed by that monarch in the palace of the Pardo, which he ornamented with subjects from Ovid. He also executed some works in the Escorial and other palaces, and died in Madrid holding the office of architect of the royal palaces."
– extracts from the Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: Appleton, 1908)
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| Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Ulysses in the Palace of Alcinous ca. 1540-50 drawing British Museum |
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| Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Ulysses at the Plough (Ulysses feigning Madness) ca. 1540-50 drawing Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Venus admonishing Cupid (design for tapestry) ca. 1555-65 drawing National Galleries of Scotland |
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| designed by Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Venus admonishing Cupid ca. 1555-65 tapestry (silk and wool, woven in Brussels) Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Venus seeking help from Juno, Ceres, and Jupiter (design for tapestry) ca. 1555-65 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Seated Jupiter with Neptune c1560- drawing- Royal Collection, Great Britain |
"A drawing of Jupiter with his foot on a globe, an eagle between his legs, and Neptune behind him. This work is a squared study for the fresco in Villa di Tobia-Pallavicini, Genoa. Castello executed frescoes throughout the villa of his patron, Tobia Pallavicino. The Council of the Gods in the vault of the Salone depicts the deliberations of Jupiter over whether Odysseus should be allowed to end his wanderings and return home. Castello's frescoes owed much to paintings that he had seen in Rome some years earlier – this figure is based on Jupiter in Raphael's own Council of the Gods in the Villa Farnesina. . . . Castello's figure of Jupiter follows Raphael's in his general attitude and in the pose of the legs, though he changed the positions of the head, arms, and eagle, and the Neptune behind Jupiter bears little relationship to Raphael's equivalent figure."
– from curator's notes at the Royal Collection
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| Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Psyche telling her Sisters of her Lover ca. 1560-69 drawing National Galleries of Scotland |
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| Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Statue of Standing Roman Warrior on a Pedestal before 1569 drawing Art Institute of Chicago |
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| attributed to Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) St Domenico prays over the body of the youth Napoleone, killed in a fall from a Horse before 1569 drawing Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Pietà before 1569 drawing Art Institute of Chicago |
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| attributed to Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Huntsman on Horseback chasing a Stag in a Wood, watched by a Maiden ca. 1566-69 drawing Museo del Prado, Madrid |
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| attributed to Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Studies for the Chariot of Apollo ca. 1566-69 drawing Museo del Prado, Madrid |
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| attributed to Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Horatius Cocles on Horseback defending the Sublician Bridge against Lars Porsenna and the Etruscans ca. 1566-69 drawing Museo del Prado, Madrid |
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| Giovanni Battista Castello (Il Bergamasco) Mars and Apollo ca. 1566-69 drawing Museo del Prado, Madrid |