Cristoforo Castelli and Georgia - art exhibition in Tbilisi, Georgia

The Embassy of Italy in Tbilisi, Georgia, in collaboration with the Georgian National Museum, is showing 50 sketches and drawings of 17th century Georgia by Italian Theatine cleric Don Cristoforo De Castelli (1600-1659). They show the life of Catholic missionaries in Georgia.

The exhibition, from 13 May to 30 June 2022, is dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, Italy and Georgia. At the opening of the exhibition, Tbilisi’s TV tower was illuminated in the colours of the Italian flag.

The artworks show the works of Castelli, who resided in Georgia between 1631 and 1654. The sketches shows Georgian ruling classes, noble families and residents, particularly in the city of Zugdidi, illustrations of entertainment events, fashion, everyday scenes, farming, and European residences in the country.

Castelli traveled extensively around Georgia, and became known as a skilled artist and experienced doctor. Because of his talents, he was welcomed into the courts of the Georgian aristocracy.

Castelli contributed to historical and cultural information in the form of an illustrated diary over almost a quarter of a century in Georgia.

In 1654, Castelli returned to his homeland Italy. Unfortunately, his best drawings of Georgia did not survive the journey home. He spent the last five years of his life classifying the surviving drawings, as well as reconstructing the lost ones, relying on his memory. He died in 1659 in Palermo. The original drawings, in seven albums, are kept at the manuscript archives of the Community (Municipal) Library ‘Leonardo Sciascia’ of Palermo.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, foreign aid audits and evaluations, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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