Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1665 - 1747), Pastoral Scene

Oil painting on canvas, depicting a pastoral scene, attributed to Giuseppe Maria Crespi known as "Lo Spagnuolo" (Bologna 1665-1747).

In this painting, the painter places meticulous attention on stage with four shepherdesses, located in a wooded landscape. Most likely, the four young women represent the guardian nymphs of Capra Amalthea, who fed the infant Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida on the island of Crete.
This painting represents the time of milking of the amalthea goat, in fact its milk, as well as the nectar of immortality provided by the panacrid bee, fed Zeus, when he was on the island of Crete. When the goat died, Zeus placed it among the stars of the sky, took its skin and created its shield, called Aegis, while from its horns he obtained the Cornucopia, the mythological symbol of food and abundance.

Stylistically, the painting can be compared to a work auctioned by Cambi aste, lot 104, April 23, 2013, auction 160 (see photo).

Crespi was born in Bologna from Girolamo Crespi and Isabella Cospi. His mother was a distant relative of the noble Cospi family, which had ties to the Florentine house of the Medici. He was nicknamed "Lo Spagnuolo" (the Spaniard) because of his often fitted clothes typical of the Spanish fashion of the time. At the age of 12, he apprenticed with Angelo Michele Toni (1640-1708). From the age of 15 to 18, he worked under the direction of Bolognese Domenico Maria Canuti.The Roman painter Carlo Maratti during a visit to Bologna, reportedly invited Crespi to work in Rome, but Crespi refused. Maratti's friend, the Bolognese Carlo Cignani invited Crespi in 1681-1682 to join a Nudo Academy to study drawing, and he remained in this studio until 1686, when Cignani moved to Forlì and his studio was taken over. by Canuti's most eminent pupil, Giovanni Antonio Burrini. From then on, Crespi works independently from other artists. His main biographer, Giampietro Zanotti, said of Crespi: "(He) never wanted for money again, and he would do the stories and the whims that entered his imagination. Very often he also painted things communities, representing the lowest trades, and people who, born poor, must provide for their needs by serving the rich citizens ". It was so for Crespi himself, as he began a career serving wealthy clients with works of art. It is said that he had an optical camera in his house to paint. By the 1690s he had completed various altarpieces, including a Temptation of Saint Anthony commissioned by Count Carlo Cesare Malvasia, now in San Niccolò degli Albani.

The work, is in a good state of preservation, with some scattered restorations, on the right arm of the nymph milking the goat and on the left side of the sky, with scratches on the top left and bottom right (see photo). 19th century frame, in wood and gilded stucco, with small cracks and loss of color.

Dimensions:
66 x 58 cm without frame