- NameDaniele Crespi
- Activity/Titleartist
- Sexmale
- Variant namesDaniele Crespi
- Nationality/DatesItalian, born 1597, dead 1630-07-19
- PlacesPlace of birth: Milano, Italien
Place of death: Milano, Italien
BiographyDaniele Crespi was a north Italian artist who was
active for just a few decades in the early 17th century
before his untimely death from the plague.
Crespi was a student of Giovanni Battista Crespi
(1573–1632), called il Cerano, and Giulio Cesare
Procaccini (1574–1625). His clearly delineated
compositions are characterized by an expressive
chromatic quality, coupled to striking effect with
a certain Caravaggesque chiaroscuro. As was the
case for both his masters, the patronage of Cardinal
Federico Borromeo (1564–1631) was of importance
to Daniele Crespi, though perhaps mainly
indirectly in his case. In 1621 he was inducted to
the Borromeo-founded Accademia Ambrosiana,
in whose school of painting Cerano taught.
Important early works by Crespi are frescoes of
St John and the Adoration of the Magi, painted in
1620 for the chapel of San Giovanni and for the
sacristy in the church of Sant’Alessandro, Milan.
In their execution he was heavily influenced by
his two masters. A St Catherine in the sacristy of
the cathedral, Milan, the altarpiece of Christ in
Glory with Saints in the Certosa di Pavia, and a
Pietà, in the Prado, Madrid, are all exponents of
the “chromatic chiaroscuro” that characterizes
the artist’s short mature period. Perhaps Crespi’s
most celebrated works are the frescoes depicting
scenes from the life of St Bruno which he painted
in 1629 for the Certosa di Garegnano in Milan.
Crespi conveys a great sense of scenic narrative in
these quadratura frescoes, which show the influence
of the Bolognese school and which are quite
similar, in particular, to the work of Lanfranco.