The Sacrement of Baptism; and
The Sacrement of Confirmation; and
The Sacrement of Communion; and
The Sacrement of Marriage; and
The Sacrement of Extreme Unction,
oil on canvas, each 40.5 x 32 cm, unframed, a set of five (5) 

The present paintings relate to compositions by Giuseppe Maria Crespi in the Staatliche Kunstsammlung, Dresden.

The paintings presented here show five of the seven sacraments from the series conceived and executed by Giuseppe Maria Crespi, called ‘lo Spagnoletto’ in 1712, commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. In 1747 the series was acquired by Augustus III and transferred to Dresden.

Crespi’s series of the Seven Sacraments received great acclaim and many painters either made copies of the set, or paintings inspired by them. During the 1720s and 30s, when the Seven Sacraments were in Rome, the series gained particular esteem from the French artists associated with the Académie de France in Rome, and indeed, in 1733-34, at the invitation of Cardinal Ottoboni, the painter Pierre Charles Trémolières made a copy of the set for Cardinal Alessandro Albani.

The Seven Sacraments were also celebrated beyond the borders of Italy, and most markedly in Paris, where members of the Academy were particularly receptive to Bolognese taste, and where the canvases were exhibited for a period (see P. Rosenberg, La fortune des Sacrements de Crespi en France au XVIIIème siècle, in: Il luogo ed il ruolo della città di Bologna tra Europa continentale e mediterranea, ed. by G. Perini, Bologna 1992, pp. 473-491).