Csornay Boldizsár - Dobos Zsuzsa - Varga Ágota - Zakariás János szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 99. (Budapest, 2003)

NYERGES, ÉVA: New Attribution in the Spanish Collection: An Hitherto Unidentified Painting by José del Castillo

The first and so far only monographer of del Castillo, Sambricio,

13 devotes an independent chapter to the religious works of the master, although these are rather few in their number. Nevertheless, we presume that several of his works in this genre may have been destroyed or possibly ascribed to other or unknown masters, as it was the case with the Budapest painting. Ponz, in his Viaje de Espana, makes mention of José del Castillo's name only a few times, and the Budapest painting can be identified with none of the works presented there.

14 Ceán Bermúdez, giving an almost full record of the master's Madrilenian pictures, makes a reference to six devotional altarpieces that the painter executed for the Salesians in their cells, but he fails to identify their subjects.

15 Later on, he mentions del Castillo having painted three pictures for the new halls of the Hospital general.

16 Given its subject, the painting in Budapest would have been appropriate for a hospital decoration, and the possibility of its patron having belonged to such circles cannot be excluded. The earlier provenance, which possibly could confirm the attribution, is yet unknown, but the characteristics of style provide convincing evidence in favour of del Castillo's identification as author. Besides the color scheme, the use of light effects (particularly the similar shading of the face), the cavernous eyes that Sambricio, V. de, José del Castillo, in Artes

y Artistas, Madrid 1958. For further details on the artist, see Sanchez Canton, F. J., Escultura y pintura del sigh XVIII (Ars Hispániáé 17), Madrid 1965, 208-19; and Aznar - Morales y Marín - Valdivieso, op.cit. (n. 8) 175-78. Ponz, Antonio, Viaje de Espana, Madrid 1947, 441, 459, 479, 1357. Ceán Bermúdez, op.cit. (n. 11) 1,285. Ibid., 286. As these works can still be found in situ, it is impossible that any of them would be identical with the Budapest painting. Cf. Luna, in The Dictionary of Art (n. 8) 6, 47. 31. José del Castillo: Sketch for the Santos Justo y Pástor altarpiece. Madrid, Museo Lázaro Galdiano