Ingenuity

Giuseppe Maria Crespi's Ingenuity from around 1690, in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg, reflects this Bolognese painter's innovative approach to genre subjects that departed from the academic traditions of his city. Crespi, sometimes called lo Spagnuolo, was one of the most original Italian painters of the late Baroque, bringing a dark, intimate naturalism to both sacred and secular subjects. His genre paintings influenced the young Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and anticipated the everyday-life subjects of eighteenth-century Italian painting.

Crespi's distinctive technique employs rich, dark tones with dramatic candlelight effects that recall Caravaggio filtered through the Bolognese tradition. His fluid brushwork and intimate scale create an atmosphere of private observation unusual in late seventeenth-century Italian painting.