Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609–1664), called Il Grechetto, was a Genoese Baroque painter and printmaker. He trained in Genoa and studied the work of Rubens and Anthony van Dyck.

He lived in Rome from 1634 to about 1645 before returning to Genoa, and in 1651 moved to Mantua to become court artist to Duke Carlo II Gonzaga, where he died in 1664.

He painted rural scenes crowded with animals, notably Noah's Ark and other Old Testament subjects. He won lasting fame for his etchings and as the inventor of the monotype.