The Abduction of Europa

The vibrant style of the composition is characteristic of Valerio Castello’s lively manner. Executed on paper, the work could have been intended as a bozzetto made in preparation for a large painting. The structure of the scene, with the figures clustered on one side of the foreground and an open luminous background, recurs often in Castello compositions such as, for example, in the Moses striking the water from the rock in the Louvre (inv. MI 863; see C. Manzitti, Valerio Castello, Turin, 2004, no. 140, ill.).