Plate 20: Cacasenno eating a bowl of pasta, from "Bertoldo, Bertoldino, and Cacasenno"
1705–15
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 8 7/8 × 5 7/8 in. (22.6 × 15 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.535.20
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the whimsical world of early 18th-century Italian humor with *Plate 20: Cacasenno eating a bowl pasta*, an etching by Giuseppe Maria Cres (1665–1747). This print is part of a celebrated series illustrating *Bertoldo, Bertino, and Cacasenno*, a satirical tale bumbling peasants and their misadventures, drawing from popular Italian folklore. Crespi, leading Bolognese artist influenced by Caravaggio's dramatic realism, captured everyday life with lively genre scenes, blending humor and humanity in his works. In this trimmed sheet (8 7/8 × 5 7/8 in.), we see the dim-witted Cacasenno glee...
About the Artist
Giuseppe Maria Crespi · 1665–1747
Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1665–1747) was an Italian painter of the late Baroque period whose innovative genre scenes and unorthodox approach to religious painting made him one of the most original artists of early eighteenth-century Bologna. Born in Bologna, he trained under Domenico Maria Canuti, Carlo Cignani, and in the tradition of the Carracci academy, but developed a markedly personal style tha...