Crespi, Giovanni Battista

Crespi, Giovanni Battista

(jōvän`nē bät-tēs`tä krās`pē), c.1575–1632, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect of the Milanese school. He was also called Il Cerano. His paintings are imbued with a highly dramatic religious fervor, described by broad areas of light and shadow and a warm palette. Much of his work is in the Cathedral of Milan, for which he executed paintings of the life of St. Charles Borromeo, and where he became head of the statuary works in 1629.