Self-portrait

In 1775 Luigi Crespi painted himself in his Bologna studio and made sure you would see him doing two things at once. In one hand he holds a painter's tools; with the other he leafs through a thick book, the third volume of the Felsina pittrice, the lives of Bolognese painters that he had brought out in 1769. That book, more than his brushes, is what keeps his name alive. Crespi was also a churchman, known around Bologna as il Canonico, the canon, and the son of a far more celebrated painter, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, nicknamed lo Spagnuolo. By pairing the palette and the volume, he set down side by side the two trades he wanted to be known for.