Félix Castello or Castelo (4 July 1595 – 12 September 1651) was a Spanish painter of the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

period.

Early life

He was born and died in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. His father, Fabrizio Castello, was a painter for

King Philip II of Spain King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

El Escorial El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (), or (), is a historical residence of the king of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, up the valley ( road distance) from the town of El Escorial, Madrid, El ...

, the palace of

Alba de Tormes Alba de Tormes is a municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. The town is on the River Tormes upstream from the city of Salamanca. Alba gave its name to one of Spain's most ...

, and the Palacio de Pardo. His mother died in childbirth in 1608. Felix's grandfather was the painter

Giovanni Battista Castello Giovanni Battista Castello (1500 or 1509–1569 or 1579) was an Italians, Italian historical Painting, painter. Born in Gandino near Bergamo, he is ordinarily termed Il Bergamasco to distinguish him from the other painter (of miniatures) with ...

(known as Il Bergamasco). He later trained with

Vincenzo Carducci Vincenzio Carduccio (in Spanish, sometimes ''Vicencio'' or Vicente Carducho; 1576 or 1578–1638) was an Italian painter who spent his career in Spain. Education and training He was born in Florence and was trained as a painter by hi ...

and

Bartolomeo Carducci Bartolomeo Carducci (156014 November 1608) was an Italian painter, better known as Carducho, the Spanish corruption of his Italian patronymic. Biography Carducci was born in Florence, where he studied architecture and sculpture under Barto ...

. In December 1615 he married Catherine de Argüello. Two years later he received the title of Painter to the King which was made vacant on the death of his father,

Career

Castello's style was very similar to the Carducci's, and therefore there have been challenges in identifying attributions. It seems likely he remained several years working as an officer in Carducci's workshop, because until 1633 there is no documentation of his work as an independent painter. In 1627 he was called for the second time as Painter to the King position, left vacant now after Bartolomé González y Serrano's death. Castello painted for the chapel of Santo Cristo de la Paciencia in the Convent of the

Capuchins Capuchin can refer to: *Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, an order of Roman Catholic friars *Capuchin Poor Clares, an order of Roman Catholic contemplative religious sisters *Capuchin monkey, primates of the genus ''Cebus'' and ''Sapajus'', named af ...

. He also painted for the cloister of the Convent of Santa Barbara. He is also said to have contributed along with

Alonzo Cano Alonso Cano Almansa or Alonzo Cano (19 March 16013 September 1667) was a Spanish painter, architect, and sculptor born in Granada.Royal Palace of Madrid The Royal Palace of Madrid () is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies. The palace has of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the largest royal palace in Eu ...

. He also worked on the ''Lactation of the Virgin to St. Bernard'', in the church of San Juan in Telde ( Gran Canaria ), and some works attributed by stylistic similarity, among which the ''Saint Francis of Assisi'' at the

Prado Museum The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on ...

Later life

The next documented event in his life comes November 1647, when he is widowed, and then remarried soon after to Barbara Huete (February 1648). He died in Madrid on September 12, 1651.

References

Antonio Palomino Acislo Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco (165513 April 1726) was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period, and a writer on art, author of ''El Museo pictórico y escala óptica'', which contains a large amount of important biographical mate ...

, '' An account of the lives and works of the most eminent Spanish painters, sculptors and architects'', 1724, first English translation, 1739, p. 41 * * Angulo Iñiguez, Diego, and Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E. Painting Madrid the first third of the seventeenth century, 1969, Madrid: Diego Velazquez Institute, CSIC, * Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E. (1992). ''Baroque Painting in Spain 1600-1750''. Madrid: Ediciones Chair. . * Corpus Velazquez. ''Documents and Texts'', volume I, Madrid, 2000, Ministry of Education, p. 66. {{DEFAULTSORT:Castello, Felix 1595 births 1656 deaths 17th-century Spanish painters Spanish male painters Painters from Madrid Spanish Baroque painters