Luigi Crespi (January 23, 1708 – July 2, 1779) was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
painter, and art merchant and historian. He was the son of the prominent
Bolognese painter,
Giuseppe Maria Crespi
Giuseppe Maria Crespi (March 14, 1665 – July 16, 1747), nicknamed Lo Spagnuolo ("The Spaniard"), was an Italian late Baroque painter of the Bolognese School. His eclectic output includes religious paintings and portraits, but he is now mo ...
.
Biography
He trained with his father and completed a few altarpieces, including for the churches of
San Sigismondo in Bologna, San Bartolomeo della Buona Morte in
Finale Emilia
Finale Emilia ( Finalese: ; Modenese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Modena, in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about north of Bologna and about northeast of Modena.
Finale was struck by an earthquake on 20 May ...
, the parish church of
Bastiglia
Bastiglia ( Modenese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Modena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about northeast of Modena.
Bastiglia borders the following municipalities: Bomporto, ...
in the Province of Modena, and a "Madonna del Rosario" for the Sanctuary of Valdibrana in
Pistoia
Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typi ...
. in 1748, he was nominated canon of the
Collegiata di Santa Maria Maggiore in Bologna. Two years later he became an assistant to Cardinal Lambertini, later Pope
Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope Be ...
. he traveled to
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
in 1751–1753. upon returning to Bologna, he worked in the re-issuing and editing of the
Carlo Cesare Malvasia
Carlo Cesare Malvasia (1616–1693) was an Italian scholar and art historian from Bologna, best known for his biographies of Baroque artists titled ''Felsina pittrice'', published in 1678.
Life and career
Malvasia is the Bolognese equivalen ...
's Biographies of Bolognese artists, published in 1753, and titled ''Felsina pittrice''. In the 1760s, he began a career as portraitist in a
Neoclassical style. He accumulated a number of honors and appointments, including an appointment as associate professor of the
Academy of Fine Arts of Florence
The Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze ("academy of fine arts of Florence") is an instructional art academy in Florence, in Tuscany, in central Italy.
It was founded by Cosimo I de' Medici in 1563, under the influence of Giorgio Vasari. M ...
in 1770; honorary academic of the
Academy of Parma (1774) and of
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
(1776). He died in his native Bologna.
Angelo Mai Civic Library of Bergamo
, short biography by Eleonora Delzano introducing letters by Crespi.
Bibliography
*Alessandro Cont
''"Ove pennello industre l'imagin tua ritrasse": i gusti e gli studi del Giovin Signore nell'Italia del Settecento''
"Rivista storica italiana", 128, 1 (aprile 2016), pp. 106–148
References
1708 births
1779 deaths
18th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
Italian art historians
Italian neoclassical painters
Painters from Bologna
18th-century Italian male artists
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