The sorceress Circe

Circe, the sorceress of Homer's Odyssey who transformed Odysseus's men into swine, was a rich subject for Baroque painters interested in metamorphosis, female power, and the ambiguous relationship between nature and civilization. Castiglione's undated canvas, now at the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan, exploits the subject's spectacular possibilities: Circe surrounded by transformed animals, her power over nature literalized as a menagerie. For Castiglione, an artist who spent years working for the Gonzaga in Mantua — where the studiolo tradition of collecting rare animals was deep — this subject was tailor-made. The Poldi Pezzoli, built on the refined taste of the nineteenth-century collector Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli, preserves this canvas alongside works of exceptional quality in a house-museum setting that reflects the intimate scale of early modern collecting.

Oil on canvas; Castiglione's loose, confident brushwork is well suited to the variety of animal textures required. Circe herself may be rendered with a smoother, more refined touch that distinguishes the enchantress from her transformed victims. The composition is likely organized around a central female figure radiating authority over a chaotic animal periphery.