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GIUSEPPE MARIA CRESPI (Bologna 1655 - 1747) HALF-LENGTH PORTRAIT OF A LADY HOLDING A MASK
Red chalk; 232 x 186 mm. PROVENANCE: Catalogue Sotheby's New York, 'Old Master Drawings', January 1996, lot 48.
The drawing is related to a painting of the same subject (present location unknown), which has been dated to circa 1700. See Mira Pajes Merriman, 'Giuseppe Maria Crespi', Milan, 1980, no. 207, illustrated. The drawing depicts the lady wearing a small straw hat, but in the painting she has roses and feathers in her hair.

Giuseppe Maria Crespi studied with Domenico Canuti and Carlo Cignani in Bologna. He also spent some time in the academy of figure drawing established in the Palazzo Ghislieri. Embarking on his independent career, Crespi briefly shared a studio with the painter Giovanni Antonio Burrini, who was later to become one of his main rivals for important commissions. He enjoyed a remarkably successful career, and included among his many important patrons Pope Clement XI, Prince Eugene of Savoy and Prince Ferdinando de' Medici of Tuscany. Crespi painted altarpieces for churches in Bologna and beyond; in Ferrara, Lucca, Bergamo, Pistoia and Mantua. At the same time he produced portraits and smaller, intimate genre scenes depicting the everyday life of the local peasants and townspeople.