CREECH, THOMAS. 



CRICHTON, JAMES. 



431 



cution both of the principal and the accessory parts. HU best work 

 however, in the opinion of Vasari, is thj picture of the ' Madonna 

 and Child,' with Saints Julian and Nicolas, painted for a chapel of tha 

 convent of Cestello, but at present iu the Louvre at Paris, No. 958, 

 and iu excellent preservation. Vasari mentions many of Lorenzo's 

 works, several of which are now lost, but there are still a few ' Holy 

 Families ' by him in Florence and other parts of Italy. C'redi, when 

 old, having become wealthy by his labours, retired into Santa Maria 

 Nuova at Florence, and died there, according to Vasari, in 1530, aged 

 seventy-eight ; but the date Gaye has shown to be incorrect, whatever 

 the age may be, for he was still living iu 1536, but ill and bed-ridden. 

 Qianantonio Sogliani, who lived with Credi twenty-four years, was his 

 mo-t distinguished scholar. 



(Vasari, file de' Pittori, d-f. ; Qaye, Cartcggio d'Artitli.) 



CREECH, THOMAS, is the translator of Lucretius, Horace, Theo- 

 critus, and detached portions of several other Greek and Latin authors, 

 of which a list is given in Kippis's ' Biojraphia Biitannica.' He was 

 born at, Blandt'ord in Dorsetshire in 1659, admitted of Wadbam College, 

 Oxford (of which he appears from the til la-page of his Lucretius to 

 have become a Fellow), in 1675, and elected probationer-fellow of All 

 Souls' in November 1683. He published in 1682 his translation of 

 Lucretius, which appears to have gained much credit at Oxford, and 

 is his best work. Dryden, who himself translated parts of Lucretius, 

 hai bestowed high praise on his predecessor. (' Preface to first part 

 of Miscellanies.') Creech published a Latin edition of the same author 

 in 1695, and a translation of Horace in 16S4, the latter with very 

 indifferent success. He was appointed to the college living of Woburn, 

 Herts, iu 1699 ; and two years afterwards, in June 1701, hung himself 

 in his chamber at Oxford. His temper was very morose, which leaves 

 room to ascribe this act to some constitutional infirmity. 



CKKSPI, GIUSEPPE MARIA (CATALIEBE), a painter and engraver 

 of Bologna, distinguished in his time, was born at Bologna in 1665. 

 He was the scholar of Canuti and of Cignani, and was called Lo 

 Spaguuolo on account of his gay attire. He was also remarkable for 

 his perseverance in copying the works of the Caracci, Correggio, and 

 Earroceio, and some of his copies are paid to have been sold at Bologna 

 as originals. He studied later the effect of Guercino and the compo- 

 sition of Pietro da Cortona. He became eventually one of the most 

 careless and capricious of painters, though all his works exhibit great 

 kill, and he had a surprising facility of execution ; indeed he is in 

 this respect probably unequalled. Mengs terms him the deitroyer of 

 the Rologneae school, bis great facility and equal success having 

 seduced the painters of his time to adopt similar carelessness of 

 manner. There are twelve of his works in the gallery of Dresden, 

 including the ' Seven Sacraments,' painted for Cardinal Ottoboui, and 

 an ' Ecce Homo,' which with all its faults is a masterly performance. 

 In colour it is rather green, but in drawing and in character it is 

 excellent, and in boldness and decision of touch surprising ; it appear.-t 

 to have been painted in one heat, and that a short one, though it 

 contains three half-length figures of the size of life Christ and two 

 soldiers. Crespi died iu 1747. 



His two sons, Luigi and Antonio, followed their father's profession, 

 but not his style. Luigi Crespi, or Don Luigi Canonico, as he was 

 designated, is well known for his writings on art, and especially for his 

 continuation of the ' Felsiua Pittrice," or ' Bologna Paintress,' of Count 

 Malvasia. The count's work is in two volumes, and Crespi published 

 a third, with the same title, iu 1769. In it he has written a life of 

 his father, and an apology for his faults. He died in 1779. 



(Oitida di Bvloyna ; Lanzi, Ktoria Pittorica, etc. ; Bartsch, Peintre- 

 Oravevr.) 



' CRESWICK, THOMAS, R.A., was born in 1811 at Sheffield, in 

 Yorkshire, and educated at Hazelwood, near Birmingham, where his 

 fondness for drawing became very conspicuous. He removed to 

 London, with a view to prosecute his artistic studies, in 1828. The 

 same year two of his landscapes appeared in the exhibition of the 

 Koyal Academy ; and from that time to the present he has been 

 one of the most regular contributors to the exhibition, besides for 

 many years contributing regularly to the annual exhibition of the 

 British Institution. 



to r. Creswick is one of the most general favourites among living 

 English landscape-painters. His subjects are almost invariably sug- 

 gestive of pleasing associations, so that their very titles contribute to 

 their popularity ; and they are always thoroughly national. Though 

 often faithful transcripts of particular spots, they seldom receive in 

 the exhibition catalogues " a local habitation," their name being for 

 the most part some pleasant poetic oue, or else typical of a class, or 

 pointing to some peculiarity of weather or season of the year. Thus, 

 / liis best-known pictures we have in the river class ' A Cool 

 Spot,' ' A Shady Glen,' ' A Rocky Stream,' ' A Greenwood Stream,' 

 ' A Mountain Stream,' and ' Windings of a River ; ' among the wood- 

 lands ' A Ulade in the Forest,' ' The Chequered Shade,' ' The Shade of 

 the lli'i.rh Trees;' when he depicts atmospheric appearances wo have 

 mich title* aa ' Rain on the Hills,' ' Passing Shower**,' ' Doubtful 

 Weather,' 'Passing Clouds, 1 'Summer-Time,' Early Spring,' and the 

 like. 



Among the first pictures by which Mr. Creswick made himself known 

 were his Welsh streams, and, to our thinking, the exquisite combina- 

 tions of rocks and light foliage with clear swift running water and 



glimpses of the neighbouring mountains seen in almost matchless 

 perfection iu North Walea, were never so charmingly expressed as in 

 Creswick'a pictures. The rivers of his native Yorkshire were however 

 ' not less happily rendered by him. His ' Course of the LJreta through 

 Bernal Woods,' exhibited in 1842, and some of those admirable scenes 

 known to have been painted from the Wharfe above Bolton Abbey, 

 are certainly among his choicest works. The scenery of Wales, York- 

 shire, and Cornwall may be said, whatever were the specific titles of 

 his pictures, to have furnished the subjects of hia paintings till his 

 Irish tour supplied a new and wider range : his ' Qlaudalough ' and 

 one or two more seemed then to imply that he was about to grapple 

 with a bolder and sterner class of subjects, but ho soon returned to his 

 old favourites, carrying with him however a somewhat more sombre 

 tone of colour. , 



In 1842 Mr. Creswick was elected an Associate of the Royal 

 Academy, and his merits having received that mark of professional 

 recognition, he seemed to work with more freedom and decision. 

 He began to venture on larger canvasses and treat of more ambitious 

 themes. But his powers may perhaps be regarded as having reached 

 their maturity in 1817, when he exhibited two of his greatest works 

 ' England,' and the ' London Road a hundred years ago : ' both dis- 

 playing in conception and execution many of the best attributes of 

 the landscape art ; in the ' Weald of Kent,' and one or two more, he 

 has successfully repeated the same extensive prospects on a scale of 

 nearly equal magnitude. The next year, 1848, Mr. Creswick sur- 

 prised the public by a bold departure from his usual style iu two 

 sea-side views, ' Home by the Sands,' and a ' Squally Day,' paiuted 

 somewhat in the manner of Collins, but with sufficient originality to 

 prevent any charge of imitation, and with so much truth and beauty 

 as to command general admiration. In 1850 Mr. Creswick painted in 

 the same style, ' Wind on Shore," and ' Over the Sands,' but he appears 

 to have since abandoned his sea-side studies. Another branch of the 

 landscape art in which he has been very successful U that of which 

 the ' Forest Farm,' the ' Valley Mill,' and the views of the terrace at 

 Haddon may be taken aa the type. Like many other landscape 

 painters Mr. Creswick cannot be regarded as happy iu his figures, yet 

 the pictures he has paiuted in conjunction with Mr. Ansdell, in which 

 the latter has supplied some capitally paiuted groups of animals, are 

 not amoug his most desirable productions. He works best alone. 



Much of the freshness and faithfulness of Mr. Creswick'.-; pictures 

 are due to his practice of painting them iu the open air, and direct 

 from the object or from nature a practice now common enough, but 

 which amoug oil-painters he was one of the first to adopt as a regular 

 habit. But every picture he haa painted bears testimony to this direct 

 study of nature, and to his own thorough enjoyment of his occupation. 

 Neither in composition nor colour haa he worked by rule : and if, as 

 is sometimes the case in his later pictures, we desiderate a little more 

 richness and variety iu the colour, we feel that the painter so 

 thoroughly comprehends the particular idea he wishes to embody, 

 that we distrust our own impression, and readily accept his reading 

 of the text. 



Mr. Creswick has made numerous designs for various publications, 

 and has for some time been engaged in preparing a series of views of 

 Welsh scenery for lithographing ou a large scale; he has also executed 

 several etchings. He was elected R.A. in 1851. 



CRfiVIER, JEAN BAPTISTE, born at Paris in 1093, was the sou 

 of a journeyman printer. He studied under Rollin, and afterwards 

 became professor of rhetoric in the college of Beauvais. After Rolliu'a 

 death he undertook to continue his ' Roman History,' of which he 

 wrote eight volumes. He is less diffuse and digressive than his master, 

 though not so pleasing in his style of composition. He also published 

 an edition of Livy iu 6 vols. 4to, 1748, with notes. The work by 

 which he is best known is ' Histoire des Empereurs Romains jusqu' a 

 Constantin,' 6 vols. 4to, Paris, 1756. The author has scrupulously 

 adhered to the ancient authorities iu the statement of facts, but his 

 narrative is deficient in interest and force. Crdvier wrote also 

 'Histoire de I'Uuivereite' de Paris," 7 vols. 12mo, 1761, which is in 

 great measure an abridgment of the larger work of Egasse du Boulay ; 

 and 'Rhetorique Franchise," 1765, a good work, which has been 

 frequently reprinted. Crevier died at Paris in December 1765. 



CRICHTON, JAMES, commonly called the ' Admirable,' son of 

 Robert Crichton of Eliock, who was lord-advocate to king James VI., 

 was born iu Scotland in the year 1561. The precise place of his birth 

 is not mentioned, but he received the best part of his education at 

 St. Andrews, at that time the most celebrated seminary iu Scotland, 

 where the illustrious Buchanan was one of his masters. At the early 

 age of fourteen he took his degree of SI aster of Arts, and was considered 

 a prodigy not only in abilities but iu actual attainments. It was the 

 custom of the time for Scotchmen of birth to finish their education 

 abroad, and serve in some foreign army previously to entering that of 

 their own country. When he was only sixteen or seventeen years old, 

 Crichtou's father sent him to the continent. He had scarcely arrived 

 iu Paris, which, whatever may have been ils learning, was then a gay 

 and spleudid city, famous for jousting, fencing, and dancing, when ho 

 publicly challenged all scholars and philosophers to a deputation at 

 the College of Navarre, to be carried on iu any one of twelve specified 

 languages, "in any science, liberal art, discipline, or faculty, whether 

 practical or theoretic ;" and, as if to show iu how little need he stood 



