Giuseppe Crespi
Giuseppe Maria Crespi | |
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Born | |
Died | 16 July 1747 Bologna | (aged 82)
Nationality | Italian |
Education | Carlo Cignani |
Known for | Painting Genre |
Giuseppe Maria Crespi (March 14, 1665 – July 16, 1747), nicknamed Lo Spagnuolo ("The Spaniard"), was an Italian late
Giuseppe Crespi, together with
Biography
Crespi was born in
By age 12 years, he apprenticed with
His main biographer, Giampietro Zanotti, said of Crespi: "(He) never again wanted for money, and he would make the stories and caprices that came into his imagination. Very often also he painted common things, representing the lowest occupations, and people who, born poor, must sustain themselves in serving the requirements of wealthy citizens". Thus it was for Crespi himself, as he began a career servicing wealthy patrons with artwork. He is said to have had a camera optica in his house for painting.[1] By the 1690s he had completed various altarpieces, including a Temptation of Saint Anthony commissioned by Count Carlo Cesare Malvasia, now in San Niccolò degli Albari.
He journeyed to Venice, but surprisingly, never to Rome. Bearing his large religious canvas of Massacre of the Innocents and a note from Count Vincenzo Rannuzi Cospi as an introduction, Crespi fled in the middle of the night to Florence in 1708, and gained the patronage of the Grand Duke Ferdinand III de' Medici.[2] He had been forced to flee Bologna with the canvas, which while intended for the Duke, had been fancied by a local priest, Don Carlo Silva for himself. The events surrounding this episode became the source of much litigation, in which Crespi, at least for the next five years, found the Duke a firm protector.
An eclectic artist, Crespi was a
The Seven Sacraments
One celebrated series of canvases, the Seven Sacraments, was painted around 1712, and is now in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden. It was originally completed for Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni in Rome, and upon his death passed to the Elector of Saxony. These imposing works are painted with a loose brushstroke, but still maintain a sober piety. Making no use of hieratic symbols such as saints and putti, they utilize commonplace folk to illustrate sacramental activity.
The Seven Sacraments | ||||||
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Baptism |
Confirmation |
Confession |
Communion |
Ordination |
Matrimony |
Extreme Unction |
Crespi and the genre style
Crespi is best known today as one of the main proponents of baroque genre painting in Italy. Italians, until the 17th century, had paid little attention to such themes, concentrating mainly on grander images from religion, mythology, and history, as well as portraiture of the mighty. In this they differed from Northern Europeans, specifically Dutch painters, who had a strong tradition in the depiction of everyday activities. There were exceptions: the Bolognese Baroque titan of fresco, Annibale Carracci, had painted pastoral landscapes, and depictions of homely tradespeople such as butchers. Before him,
He painted many kitchen scenes and other domestic subjects. The painting of
In another genre scene, Crespi captures the anger of a woman at a man publicly urinating on wall, with a
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Searching for Fleas
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Kitchenmaid
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Dice players
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The Courted Singer
Later works and pupils
True to his
While many came to work in the studio, Crespi established after Cignani's departure, few became notable. Antonio Gionima was moderately successful. Others included Giovanni Francesco Braccioli; Giacomo Pavia; Giovanni Morini; Pier Guariente; Felice and his brother Jacopo Giusti;[5] and Cristoforo Terzi.[6] He may also have influenced Giovanni Domenico Ferretti. While the Venetian Giovanni Battista Piazzetta claimed to have studied under Crespi, the documentation for this is nonexistent.
Two of Crespi's sons, Antonio (1712–1781) and Luigi (1708–1779) became painters. According to their account, Crespi may have used a camera obscura to aid in depiction of outdoor scenes in his later years. After his wife's death, he became reclusive, rarely leaving the house except to go to daily mass.
Partial anthology of works
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Woman Tuning a Lute, about 1700–05 (MFA, Boston, 69.958)
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Woman with Pandurina,Strasbourg Museum of Fine Arts
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Count Fulvio Grati, 1700–1720, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
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Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, 1740, Palazzo d'Accursio
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Ecstasy of St Margaret of Cortona, 1701, Diocesan Museum (Cortona)
- The Marriage at Cana, Art Institute of Chicago
- Holy Family (1688), Parish Church of Bergantino
- Madonna del Carmine
- Temptation of St. Anthony (1690), San Niccolò degli Albari, Bologna
- Aeneas, The Sibyl and Charon, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- Hecuba blinding Polynestor, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
- Tarquin and Lucretia, National Gallery, Washington D.C.
- The Triumph of Hercules, The Four Seasons, The Three Fates, Neptune and Diana, frescoes of Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande, Bologna
- The Finding of Moses & David and Abigail, Museo di Palazzo Venezia, Rome
- Love triumphant (L'Ingegno), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg
- Chiron Teaches Achilles (1700s), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
- The Ecstasy of Saint Margaret of Cortona (1701), Duomo, Bologna
- Massacre of the Innocents (1706), National Gallery, Dublin
- The Fair at Poggio a Caiano (1709), Uffizi
- The Nurture of Jupiter (1729), Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
- Singer at Spinet with an Admirer (1730s), Uffizi
- Village Fair with dentist (1715–20), Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan [1]
- Series of The Seven Sacraments (1712), Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
- Meeting between James Stuart and the Prince Albani, Národní Galerie, Prague
- Annunciation with Saints (1722), Sarzana Cathedral
- The Crucifixion (Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan)
- Self-portrait (1725-1730), Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
- The Assumption of the Virgin (1730), Archivio Arcivescovile, Lucca
- Two altarpieces for the church of the Gesù, Ferrara (1728–1729)
- Four altarpieces for the church of the Benedictine Monastery of San Paolo D'Argon, province of Bergamo(1728–1729)
- Martyrdom of Saint John the Evangelist
- Joshua Stopping the Sun (1737), Colleoni Chapel, Bergamo
- Martyrdom of Saint Peter of Arbuès (1737), Collegio di Spagna, Bologna
- Self-portrait, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna
- The Family of Zanobio Troni, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna
- The Lute Player, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- The Hunter, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna)
- The Messenger, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe
- Courtyard Scene, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna
- Searching for Fleas,(Louvre); variants (Uffizi), Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa, and Museo di Capodimonte, Naples
- The Woman Washing Dishes, Galleria degli Uffizi
- A Peasant Family with Boys Playing, London
- Peasants Playing Musical Instruments, London
- Peasants with Donkeys, London
- Importunate Lovers, Hermitage
- Peasant Flirtation, London
- Menghina from the Garden meets Cacasenno
- Music Library Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna
- Cupids at Play, El Paso Museum of Art
- St John NepomukHears Confession from the Queen of Bohemia, Turin, Galleria Sabauda
- Man With Helmet, Nelson-Atkins Art Museum, Kansas City, Missouri
Notes
- ^ Lanzi p. 162.
- ^ "Artist Info". www.nga.gov. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
- ^ Lanzi p. 162-3.
- ^ "Giuseppe Maria Crespi | Italian painter". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
- ^ Guida di Pistoia per gli amanti delle belle arti con notizie, by Francesco Tolomei, 1821, page 177-178.
- ^ Hobbes, 1849, p. 68
References
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Crespi, Giuseppe Maria". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 412. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Hobbes, James R. (1849). Picture collector's manual adapted to the professional man, and the amateur. London: T&W Boone. p. 68.
- Spike, John T. (1986). Giuseppe Maria Crespi and the Emergence of Genre Painting in Italy. Fort Worth: Kimball Museum of Art. pp. 14–35.
- Luigi, Lanzi (1847). Thomas Roscoe (ed.). The History of Painting in Italy; from period of the revival of the arts to the eighteenth century. London: Henry G. Bohn. pp. 162–165.
- Domenico Sedini, Giuseppe Maria Crespi Archived 2016-12-27 at the Wayback Machine, online catalogue Artgate by Fondazione Cariplo, 2010, CC BY-SA.
External links
Media related to Paintings by Giuseppe Maria Crespi at Wikimedia Commons