Castiglione would have encountered traders from Africa and the eastern Mediterranean around the port of Genoa, and throughout his life he depicted exotically dressed characters in his art. In biblical and mythological paintings, they gave a flavour of the orient that would have been appreciated by his patrons. As single heads, seen here in his prints and drawings, Castiglione followed the genre of northern European art known as tronies or ‘character heads’, perhaps best seen in the etchings of Rembrandt and his peers.