Biography

Castillo was a Spanish painter active in Cordova, who was a pupil of his uncle Juan (1584-1640), who had himself been a pupil of Zurbarán and was the master also of Murillo. Antonio was therefore much influenced by Zurbarán's dramatic sobriety, as well as by Netherlandish engravers such as Bloemaert, whose genre treatment of religious themes influenced Castillo. His earliest work (St Jerome, Madrid, Prado) is dated 1635. He also painted portraits and landscapes, and was the master of Valdés Leal. There are works in Cordova, Madrid and Munich.