Document Highlights

March 2003

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Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1665-1747), Massacre of the Innocents (1706-8); Oil on Canvas, 133 x 189cm; Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi

DOCUMENT CITATION:
Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Mediceo del Principato 1718, insert 8, folio 27 (Entry 12858 in the "Documentary Sources" database.)

TRANSLATION:
Respectfully carrying out Your Highness’s orders, I considered the papers relevant to the outstanding litigation between the Reverend [Carlo] Silva and the Painter Cresti [Giuseppe Maria Crespi]. The point of contention is the contract between these two which stipulates that the latter is to execute two paintings for the former, one of the Massacre of the Innocents and the other of Hagar. In return, the painter is to receive 40 doppie, which is to say 600 lire, worth of goods from the priest who is furthermore obliged to celebrate 1000 masses for the painter’s deceased relatives. From these papers, it can be deduced that neither of them has fulfilled the contract: the painter has not done so since the picture came into Your Highness’s possession; meanwhile, the priest has not done so since the masses were not celebrated and the goods which were made over to the painter amount only to 202.13 lire according to expert appraisal, only a third or a bit more of the above stated 600 lire. Considering matters as they are now, I see no merit in the priest’s claim to the deposited 60 doppie and the first picture. This is because the picture cannot be considered to be the one which was the object of their agreement since it far exceeds the format which was stipulated. Neither can the priest claim the 60 doppie which Your Highness generously gave to the painter in recognition of the real value of the picture which he had given you as a gift. In order to bring this litigation to an end without further dissension or contention, it would seem a fair and legal solution if the painter were obliged to execute the two pictures in the formats that were agreed upon and the priest were obliged to prove that the masses were indeed celebrated. From the 60 doppie which were deposited, I would consider it appropriate for the priest to be paid the standard honorarium for masses in Bologna. He should also be paid the 202.13 lire for the assessed value of the goods given to the painter, as mentioned, plus 12 doppie for any other claims which the priest might make or else because the goods in question have not been correctly or completely appraised within the period of the contract, or for interest or damages. In this way, both parties will be released from the said contract and the remainder of the said 60 doppie will be given to the painter, who will have to return the clock which he received from the priest in relation to another matter. It therefore remains for Your Highness to make your will known and, bowing humbly, I defer to your superior judgement in all of this.

TRANSCRIPTION:
[...] In riverente esecuzione de benignissimi commandi di Vostra Altezza, [h]o visto le scritture sopra la differenza che pende tra il Reverendo [Carlo Giuseppe] Silva, et il pittore Cresti [Giuseppe Maria Crespi] a causa del contratto tra essi seguito che questo li facesse due quadri, uno della stragge dell'Innocenti, l'altro di Agar, e per quello de medesimi ricevesse doppie 40, cioè lire 600 in tante robbe consegnateli, e di più il prete fosse obligato celebrare messe 1000 per i defunti d'esso pittore. E dalle medesime si riccava, che niuno di loro [h]a adempito al convenutto; non il pittore perchè il quadro dell'Innocenti è passato alle mani di Vostra Altezza, e l'altro non è fatto; non il prete perchè le messe non sono state celebrate, e le robbe consegnate da lui non ascendono che a lire 202.13, secondo le stime de periti, che sono la 3.^a parte di dette lire 600 o pocco più. Onde nel stato presente stimo vana la pretensione del prete di conseguire le doppie 60 depositate, come quello del quadro primo, che dice, e pretende fosse suo, perchè nè questo si può dire essere il quadro convenuto, eccedendo di molto la forma patuita, e nemeno le doble 60 date dalla generosità di Vostra Altezza al pittore, che li presentò in dono detto quadro, si può firmare sijno il prezzo giusto del medesimo. E però per terminare questa differenza, senza azzardare le parti a novi disgusti o contese, quando s'obligasse il pittore a farli li due quadri nelle forme patuite, et il prete a giustificare d'aver celebrate dette messe, che parerebbe il termine più giusto e leggale, stimerei più proprio che delle dette doble 60 depositate si pagassero al prete le mercedi delle messe celebrate a ragione di quello si pratica in Bologna, come anco le lire 202.13 per le robbe date al pittore così stimate, come si è detto, e di più doppie dodici, per tutto quello potesse esso prete pretendere o per causa di dette robbe non stimate per il giusto quello secondo il tempo del contratto o per mancarvene alcune, come anco per qualsisia altra causa di danno o interesse con restare in tal modo ambe le parte libere da detto contratto et il restante di dette doble 60 si consegni al pittore, quale dovrà restituire al prete l'orologio dattoli per altro conto. Sta però a Vostra Altezza il commandare la sua volontà, rimettendomi in tutto al suo superiore intendimento, e li faccio umilissimo inchino.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
Giuseppe Maria Crespi’s "Massacre of the Innocents" (1706-8), now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, has long been recognized as one of the most compelling expressions of this Bolognese painter’s peculiar artistic vision. A large painting measuring 133 by 189 centimeters, it features dozens of writhing, posing and gesticulating small figures, realized with flickering brushwork against a darkly atmospheric background, producing an equivocal effect of both overwrought violence and meditated elegance.

In fact, the picture’s early history was no less curious and dramatic than the work itself, as recorded in two published contemporary accounts, one by Giampietro Zanotti (Storia dell’Accademia Clementina di Bologna..., Bologna 1739, Vol. II, pp.45-50) and one by Giuseppe Maria’s own son and fellow painter Luigi Crespi (Vite de’ pittori bolognesi..., Rome 1769, pp.209-11.) In Luigi’s version, he refers to his father as "lo Spagnuolo" or "the Spaniard", a popular nick-name inspired by the elder painter’s style of dress and comportment.

There was a certain priest...whose love for Giuseppe Maria Crespi’s manner of painting was matched only by his lack of means when it came to paying. Among the various pictures that this dilettante priest ordered from him was a "Massacre of the Innocents", quite large in size, which he said he wanted to give as a gift to Grand Prince Ferdinando de’Medici of Tuscany. In return for this picture, in addition to a bit of money and a few odds and ends in silver, he obligated himself in writing to celebrate a few hundred masses for the souls of the departed, to whom this painter was especially devoted. In drawing up contracts with religious orders, he regularly included alms for masses to benefit these souls, as he did with the Jesuits in Ferrara and Parma and the Servites in Bologna and Guastalla, among others...When the picture was finished, the priest insisted on immediately taking possession of it, giving the painter a little money and those few odds and ends in silver that were stipulated in the contract. The painter insisted (and rightly so) on receiving an affidavit that the contracted sacrifices of the mass had been duly performed. The priest could not demonstrate anything of the sort since he had not in fact celebrated the masses...and after much ridiculous contention, the priest was forced to leave the painter’s house without the picture, vanishing in a flash when the Spaniard pulled out a harkbus...The priest himself then responded with violence, enlisting another gentleman and sending him to ask for the picture. The Spaniard forthrightly refused to hand it over until such time as he was shown an affidavit for the celebration of the masses in question.

The gentleman was so offended by this negative response that one evening he sent a few men to take the picture from the painter’s room by force. While they were strong-arming him, the painter rolled up the picture, dressed himself in any haphazard way he could and slipped through a window down into a courtyard. He then took refuge in the palace of a gentleman who was his friend. During that turbulent night, the Spaniard decided to bring the picture himself to Grand Prince Ferdinando and make him a gift of it. The painter then left Bologna for Florence with only the picture and the clothes on his back, which included a short jacket and a black overcoat with a long collar divided in two. He therefore looked like an apothecary, or a doctor who was summoned in haste to treat a sick person, or else a man of law or a notary...

Crespi thus arrived in Florence, by which time his clothing was besmirched with mud and soaked by the driving rain. He didn’t find the Prince who was then in Livorno and set off for that place by boat on the Arno River...0n his arrival in Livorno, he made his way somehow to the palace without giving a thought to cleaning himself up. He asked for His Highness’s Secretary but didn’t find anyone who could be bothered to show him where to find this Secretary, since everyone burst into laughter at the sight of his rare elegance. In the meantime, the Prince had already received a letter from Count Vincenzo Ranuzzi [in Bologna] informing him of the painter’s journey. So, when he heard that some man had come from Bologna to pay his respects, the Prince had him shown in without ceremony...

The Spaniard thus appeared before the Prince, without knowing the Prince’s identity, and after various things were said...finally insisted on seeing His Highness’s Secretary. The Prince was enjoying this situation and replied that the painter could tell him whatever it was that he wanted from the Secretary. However, the Prince could hardly get a word out, since the painter kept coming back with, "I want to see the Secretary!" The Prince then took a candlestick in his hand and studied the visitor close-up from head to foot, laughing with all his might. "I know who you are.", he said, "You’re that painter called ‘The Spaniard". So, go to the Secretary and then we will see each other later."

The painter was then taken to see the Secretary, who received him and did whatever needed to be done. Then on the next day, the painter presented the picture to His Highness, whom it pleased greatly. He admired it thoroughly, expressing so intelligent an appreciation that the painter could scarcely believe the Prince’s depth of understanding. And such was his satisfaction that he had the painter assigned lodgings in his own palace.

This picaresque tale of an eccentric painter, an irrascible priest and a genial prince might easily be dismissed as blatant fiction if the events were not so well documented in the Florentine and Bolognese archives. Also, it is well-known in the history of art that Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1665-1747) did indeed become a favorite of Grand Prince Ferdinando (1663-1713) and that the "Massacre of the Innocents" was the first picture of his to enter the Medici collections.

Auditore Fiscale Zaccaria Seratti was in effect the Chief Justice of the Grand Dukedom of Tuscany. Though a good deal of covert drama emerges from between the lines of this high-level legal finding, Seratti is notably even-handed in sorting out the rival claims of the Prince’s new protégé and a priest residing in a foreign state. It is possible, however, that the Reverend Carlo Silva in Bologna might have had connections of his own with the Medici Court, since he had apparently been thinking of presenting the picture himself to Grand Prince Ferdinando.

Among the goods and services under discussion were a thousand masses for souls in purgatory, a commodity which had a recognized cash value, that could vary from place to place, according to the local going rate. There was an ancient belief that the actions of the living could assist the deceased in achieving ultimate redemption. This in turn was reinforced by a parallel belief that the deceased were in a privileged position to intervene with God on behalf of those still alive. Though a thousand masses represented a daunting quantity of sacramental activity, they would presumably have been celebrated over an extended period of time. Also, there is no need to assume that Giuseppe Maria Crespi’s departed relatives were the sole beneficiaries of these particular masses, since his pious intention might well have been grouped together with others.

In regard to complicated formulas for payment, we note that Giuseppe Maria Crespi gave Ferdinando de’Medici the "Massacre of the Innocents" as a gift and that the Prince in turn "generously gave 60 doppie to the painter in recognition of the real value of the picture." This kind of financial indirectness often characterized the relations between great patrons and the artists who served them. Particularly in the early stages of such a relationship, it was crucial that the right tone be set (specifically that of honor being paid to virtue, rather than a disbursement of cash for a lot of merchandise.)

Indeed, the humor of Luigi Crespi’s story turns on an elaborate play of ceremony versus anti-ceremony, with Giuseppe Maria breaking every possible rule of etiquette. Clothing was essential to social and professional identity and the painter’s attire, especially outrageous in a courtly context, allowed the Prince to amuse himself by going incognito. This led to a hilariously contrived comedy of errors, with the painter insisting on speaking to the Prince’s Secretary while already face-to-face with the Prince himself.

In regard to the relations between this painter and his princely patron, a crucial subtext runs through Luigi Crespi’s account. Art was, among other things, an aristocratic diversion and artists were often viewed as privileged eccentrics whose behavior was no less original and entertaining than the works they created.

SPECIAL THANKS TO Niccolò Capponi who discovered this document and Lisa Goldenberg Stoppato who researched it.

ILLUSTRATIONS:

click on image to enlarge Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1665-1747), Selfportrait (circa 1715-20); Oil on Canvas, 95 x 81cm; Bologna, Pinacoteca Nazionale

click on image to enlarge Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1665-1747), Massacre of the Innocents (1706-8); Oil on Canvas, 133 x 189cm; Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi

click on image to enlarge Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1665-1747), Massacre of the Innocents (detail); Oil on Canvas; Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi

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