Giovanni Battista Crespi

Giovanni Battista Crespi (born December 23, 1573 in Cerano (Novara), † October 23, 1632 in Milan ), called Il Cerano , was an Italian painter , sculptor and architect of late Mannerism and a leading artist of his time.

Life

Crespi was the son of the painter Raffaele Crespi and was usually named after his place of birth il Cerano near Milan. In addition to painting, he also studied architecture and sculpture in Rome and Venice, and was well versed in fine literature and chivalric arts. That is why he played an important role at the Milanese court.

First he lived in Venice and from 1591 in Milan. He was a student of Camillo Procaccini and is considered one of the leading artists of his time. From around 1620 he headed the painting school of the Accademia Ambrosiana in Milan, which was founded by Federico Borromeo , and was in the service of the Milanese Archbishop and Cardinal Karl Borromeo . He also portrayed this in the painting Madonna of Victory (see picture, bottom left).

Crespi's painting is always free, witty, but sometimes mannered. His works often deal with religious topics and give a foretaste of the beginning of the Counter Reformation . He had a very special talent in realistically depicting animals, which he often put in cabinet pieces. Among his students were Daniele Crespi and Carlo Francesco Nuvolone . He died in Milan in 1632.

Works

(Selection)

Christ appears to the apostles Peter and Paul , around 1626/1628

• Madonna of Victory , 1581, parish church St. Dionysius Neckarsulm
• St. Francis heals a leper (oval), 1600, wood, 41 × 26 cm
• Baptism of Christ , 1601, canvas, 203 × 255 cm, Frankfurt am Main, Städelsches Kunstinstitut
• Scenes from the life of St. Charles Borromeo , 1602–03, canvas, 480 × 600 cm, Milan, Duomo
• St. Francis frees a prisoner (oval), 1600, wood, 41 × 26 cm, Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera
• Baptism of St. Augustine , 1618, canvas, 470 × 720 cm, Milan, S. Marco
• St. Francis adores a crucifix , 1618, canvas, 73 × 79 cm, Milan, Civico Museo d'Arte Antica, Castello Sforzesco
• Christ appears to the apostles Peter and Paul , around 1626/1628, canvas, 274 × 184 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, picture gallery
• Messa di San Gregorio per l'indulgenza delle anime del Purgatorio , Varese, San Vittore
• Entombment of Christ , undated

Bibliography

• GA DELL'ACQUA in "Storia di Milano" X, Milan 1957, p. 726 ff.
• G. TESTORI in the catalog of the exhibition "Manierismo piemontese e lombardo del '600", Turin 1955, p. 41 ff.
• N. PEVSNER "The paintings of Giovanni Battista Crespi, called Cerano" in the "Yearbook of the Prussian Art Collections" XLVI, Berlin 1925, p. 259 f.
• A. Ottino Della Chiesa

Web links

Commons : Giovanni Battista Crespi  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

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