diff --git a/numpy/core/src/multiarray/ctors.c b/numpy/core/src/multiarray/ctors.c
index ef105ff2d3f8..08c285708fe1 100644
--- a/numpy/core/src/multiarray/ctors.c
+++ b/numpy/core/src/multiarray/ctors.c
@@ -552,7 +552,7 @@ PyArray_AssignFromCache_Recursive(
             else {
                 PyArrayObject *view;
                 view = (PyArrayObject *)array_item_asarray(self, i);
-                if (view < 0) {
+                if (view == NULL) {
                     goto fail;
                 }
                 if (PyArray_AssignFromCache_Recursive(view, ndim, cache) < 0) {