Portrait of a Man c. 1700

Giuseppe Maria Crespi created this red chalk drawing, "Portrait of a Man," in Italy, likely during the late 17th or early 18th century. It depicts a man draped in what appears to be classical garb. Crespi lived and worked in Bologna, at a time when the city’s art academy was solidifying its influence. Bolognese artists were known for their classicizing tendencies, meaning that they looked back to the art of ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration. In this context, Crespi’s “Portrait of a Man” can be understood as part of an effort to situate Bolognese art within a longer, prestigious tradition. The man’s clothing and the soft, idealized treatment of his features would have signaled his status as a learned, refined individual. To understand this drawing better, one might research the history of the Bolognese Academy, as well as the dress codes and portrait conventions that governed representations of elite men in this period. After all, the meaning of art is always contingent on social and institutional context.