Valerio Castello Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Valerio Castello (1624 - 1659), followed his apprenticeship in the workshop of Domenico Fiasella and then in that of Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari, but neither of these significantly influenced his style. In fact, Valerio distinguished himself from the Genoese pictorial tradition at a very young age. Read the full biography

Valerio Castello (1624 - 1659), followed his apprenticeship in the workshop of Domenico Fiasella and then in that of Giovanni Andrea de Ferrari, but neither of these significantly influenced his style. In fact, Valerio distinguished himself from the Genoese pictorial tradition at a very young age. He did not follow the naturalist current in vogue in Genoa in the 1640s, but made autonomous choices.
Between 1640 and 1645 he went to Parma and Milan and through careful observation of the works of the Flemish and Venetians present in the Genoese collections, he inaugurated a new course of the Baroque season, characterized by dynamic, joyful and musical painting. In 1647 he created two canvases for the oratory of San Giacomo della Marina.
By the spring of 1654, he frescoed the vault of the hall of Fame in Giovanni Battista Balbi's palace (now Palazzo Reale). In the second half of that year, he worked in the nearby palace of Francesco Maria Balbi (now Palazzo Balbi Senarega, seat of the University).
Together with Domenico Piola he decorated the vault of the church of Santa Marta.
He died very young under unknown circumstances