St Acisclus

1650 · Private collection

religious

Antonio del Castillo, a pupil of Juan del Castillo and Francisco de Zurbarán was the most important artist in his native Córdoba. The present almost sculptural depiction of one of the patron saints of Córdoba shows St Acisclus holding a sword and a martyr's palm.

About the Artist

Antonio del Castillo

1616 – 1668

Castillo was a Spanish painter active in Cordova, who was a pupil of his uncle Juan (1584-1640), who had himself been a pupil of Zurbarán and was the master also of Murillo. Antonio was therefore much influenced by Zurbarán's dramatic sobriety, as well as by Netherlandish engravers such as Bloemaert, whose genre treatment of religious themes influenced Castillo. His earliest work (St Jerome, Madrid, Prado) is dated 1635. He also painted portraits and landscapes, and was the master of Valdés Leal. There are works in Cordova, Madrid and Munich.

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