GIOVANNI BATTISTA CRESPI detto IL CERANO (attr.... Lot n° 28

(Romagnano Sesia, 1573 - Milan, 1632) Martyrdom of St. Paul Oil on panel, 27.5X20.5 cm Inscribed on verso: Nachlus Franz von Lembach Nr. 29 The painting by its speed of execution and sprezzatura is undoubtedly a sketch. The style denotes a very sustained quality, and the clear Lombard characters of the early seventeenth century are as close as ever to the pictorial achievements of Giovanni Battista Crespi known as Cerano. The scenic construction unfolding in the plane is bordered in the background by innumerable figures, and the whole finds points of comparison with the panel of unknown location published with a dubious attribution to the artist by Marco Rosci (Cf. M. Rosci, Il Cerano, Milan 2000, pp. 55-56, no. 15).