Valerio Castello was born in Genoa in 1624. He trained in the workshops of Domenico Fiasella and Giovanni Andrea de’Ferrari before traveling to Milan and Parma, where he was inspired by the works of Correggio and Parmigianino. Castello returned to Genoa and encountered paintings by Van Dyck, which influenced his inventive style. He assimilated influences from Parma, the Milanese School, and the colony of northern painters in Genoa during the mid-seventeenth century. Castello secured a reputation as one of the most original Genoese artists of the period. He died in 1659