Contemporary with him flourished Gio. Batista Crespi, better known by the name of Cerano, his native place, a small town in the Novarese. Sprung from a family of artists, which left specimens of its genius at S. Maria di Busto, where his grandfather Gio. Piero, and Raffaello, his father or uncle, (I am not certain which,) had been employed. He studied at Rome, and at Venice, uniting to that of painting great knowledge in the art of modelling, as well as in architecture; being, moreover distinguished for good taste in literature and for polite accomplishments. With such qualifications he took the lead at the court of Milan, from which he received a salary; no less than in the great undertakings of the Card. Federigo, and in the direction of the academy. Not to dwell upon the buildings, statues, and bassi-relievi, which he either designed or executed, but which are less connected with my subject, he painted a great number of altar-pieces, in which he at once exhibited, if I mistake not, great excellences and great defects. He is invariably free, spirited, and harmonious; but he frequently, from too great affectation of grace or of magnificence, falls into a degree of mannerism, as in some of his histories at the Pace, where his naked figures are heavy, and the attitudes of others too extravagant. In his other subjects these defects are less apparent; but here he has also overloaded his shadows. In the greater part of his works, notwithstanding, the correct and the beautiful so far abounds, as to shew that he was one of the first masters of his school. Thus in his Baptism of S. Agostino, painted for S. Marco, he rivals Giulio Cesare Procaccini, whose productions are placed opposite, and in the opinion of some he surpasses him. Another instance occurs in his altar-piece of saints Carlo and Ambrogio, at Santo Paolo, where, in taste of colouring at least he surpasses the Campi; and a third in his celebrated picture of the Rosario, at S. Lazzaro, which casts into shade the fine fresco painting of Nuvoloni. He was particularly skilled in drawing birds and quadrupeds, of which he composed pictures for private ornament, as we gather from Soprani in his life of Sinibaldo Scorza. He educated many pupils, whom we shall reserve for an inferior epoch, excepting Daniele Crespi of Milan, who, on account of his worth, and the period in which he flourished, ought not to be separated from his master.