Bernardino Castelli

Bernardino Castelli (15 June 1750, Arsiè - 24 February 1810, Venice) was an Italian painter of portraits and religious figures.

His work there impressed the Canon, Alvise Franzoia, who took him to Treviso and presented him to Bishop Paolo Francesco Giustiniani [it] who offered to take him under his protection and helped him to continue his studies.

[1] In 1772, he was commissioned by the Dominicans at the church of Saint Nicholas to do several portraits, restore others, and create a gallery in the chapter house, which was destroyed during a bombing raid in 1944.

Three years later, at the invitation of Bishop Giustiniani and his brother, Castelli moved to Padua, where he became a private portrait painter.

[1] One of his last works was a depiction of Susanna and the Elders, painted as part of a competition organized by Girolamo Manfrin, a tobacco merchant who was also a patron of the arts.