Saint John on Patmos, oil on canvas, 75.5 x 95 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection Venice, 1945;
European private collection
Exhibited:
Bologna, Salone del Podestà, Mostra Celebrativa di Giuseppe Maria Crespi, June – July 1948 (no. XXV)

Literature:
M. P. Merriman, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Milan 1980, p. 259, no. 90.

Arcangeli suggested, within the framework of the exhibition Mostra Celebrativa di Giuseppe Maria Crespi in 1948, that the present painting should be dated to between 1720 and 1730. It is probably the altarpiece, which was mentioned by Giampietro Zanotti in 1739 (see G. Zanotti Storia dell’Accademia Clemenetina di Bologna, Bologna 1739, p. 59) as being in the private chapel of the “padre maestro Cavalli Servita”.

The present composition is one of the few paintings by Giuseppe Maria Crespi for which a preliminary study has survived (Louvre, Paris; fig. 1). The drawing was first published by Jacob Baen, and we know from an inventory of 1775 that it was once owned by Mariette, who had acquired it from Luigi Crespi around 1760 by the agency of Giovanni Bottari. It only gives a faint impression of the finished painting, which is characterized by a skilful treatment of light and an almost romantic atmosphere.

In the early 1680s, Giuseppe Maria Crespi worked under Domenico Maria Canuti in Bologna and subsequently entered Carlo Cignani’s drawing academy. In 1688–90, he travelled to Emilia and Venice in order to study the paintings of the major Italian masters. His success enabled Crespi to open a workshop of his own around 1700. Known primarily for his genre paintings, Crespi also painted numerous compositions of religious subject matter in his later years. After the death of his wife in 1722, the artist barely left the house and lived in seclusion and piety. Many of his altarpieces date from this period.