520 



CKESCIMBENI CREST. 



1 6th century, and studied the art of painting under 

 Pomerancias. Some of his early compositions at- 

 tracted the attention of the pope, Paul V., who in- 

 trusted him with the decoration of the Pauline 

 chapel. Cardinal Zapata took him to Spain in 

 1617, where he obtained the favour of Philip III. 

 Some flower-pieces occasioned his receiving the 

 commission to build the sepulchral monument in 

 the Escurial, the splendour and finished elegance ot 

 which place it among the most remarkable monu- 

 ments of Europe. (See Santo's History of the 

 Etcurial, with copperplates.) The bronze figures 

 were executed by Roman artists. Philip IV. made 

 him a grandee of Castile, with the title of marquis de 

 la Torre, and conferred upon him other marks of 

 distinction. His house, which contained rich trea- 

 sures in every branch of art, was ever open to artists. 

 He died in 1660. 



CRESCIMBENI, GIOVANNI MARIA, a scholar 

 and poet, was bom at Macerata, in the Mark of 

 Ancona, Oct. 9, 1663. When but a child, he dis- 

 played an inclination for poetry. Ariosto's verses, 

 in particular, were impressed on his memory by an 

 edition of Orlando Furioso, with copperplates, in 

 which he used to search for and peruse the passages 

 to which the engravings referred. In the Jesuits' 

 college, at Macerata, he wrote, at thirteen, a 

 tragedy Darius. At fifteen, he was a member of 

 an academy, and, at sixteen, doctor of laws. His 

 father sent "him, in 1681, to Rome, to perfect him- 

 self in the knowledge of law ; but he applied him- 

 self, with still more zeal, to poetry. Some canzoni 

 of Filicaja, in 1687, gave him correct views of -the 

 character of the poetry then in vogue. Dissatisfied 

 with all that he had formerly attempted, he felt 

 himself at once constrained to imitate only the 

 ancient models, and* to recommend their simple and 

 natural manner to his contemporaries. Crescimbeni 

 belonged to all the three academies in Rome, which 

 rivalled each other in wretched verses. Out of 

 these, he selected certain members, whose views 

 harmonized with his own, and formed a new acade- 

 my, which was sportively called the Arcadia, in al- 

 lusion to the rural taste of the founder. (See Arca- 

 dians. ) H e was the first custode of this academy, under 

 the name of Alfesibeo Cario, and was re-elected to the 

 office for several successive olympiads. Crescimbeni, 

 delighted with the success of his plan, was not the 

 least active among his fellow poets. In 1698, ap- 

 peared his Istoria delta volgar Poesia a work of vast 

 industry, but destitute of method and criticism. He 

 next published his Trattato delta Bellezza delta volgar 

 Poesia (Rome, 1700, 4to), which passed, in a short 

 time, through three editions, and, like the earlier 

 work, was first made capable of being understood 

 and enjoyed by the Commentarj intorno alia Storia 

 delta volgar Poesia (Rome, 1702, five volumes, 4to). 

 The favour of Clement XI. placed him in an easy 

 situation. In the tranquillity of his canonicate, dis- 

 turbed only by the disputes of the Arcadians, the 

 number of his works rapidly increased. He made a 

 translation of Nostradamus's Lives of the Provengal 

 Poets, with additions, enlarged his own Commenta- 

 ries with four valuable volumes, and wrote a History 

 of the Arcadia, and Lives of the Arcadian Poets. 

 About this time, also, appeared the two first 

 volumes of verses (Rime) of his Arcadia, which were 

 well received. Clement V. and Benedict XIII. 

 rewarded his labours with ecclesiastical ho- 

 nours; and John V. of Portugal presented 

 the Arcadia with some funds. The society erected 

 a theatre, still existing, on the Janiculum, and 

 their first Olympic games were celebrated Sep- 

 tember 9, 1726, in honour of the king of Portugal. 

 The poems which Crescimbeni read on that occasion, 



were received with lively approbation. Meanwhile 

 his constitution was yielding to a disorder of the 

 breast. After being admitted, at his request, into 

 ilir onler of the Jesuits, in whose garb he wished to 

 die, he expired, March 8, 1728. During his life- 

 time, he liad caused his monument to be erected in 

 the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, with the in- 

 scription I. M. C. P. ARC. C. (Joannet Mariut 

 Crescimbenius , Pastorum Arcadum Custos). and Inur- 

 ing the Arcadian pipe. He was of a gentle disposi- 

 tion, benevolent, affable, and moderate. Among his 

 numerous works, occasional compositions, and eulo- 

 gies, those already mentioned are all that deserve a 

 liigh rank in the literature of his country. A bio- 

 graphy of liim is prefixed to his History of Arcadia 

 (Rome, 1712, 12mo.), by the canon Mancurti of 

 Imola. 



CRESPI, GIUSEPPE MARIA, surnamed HSpagnuolo, 

 a painter of the Bolognese school, was born at Bo- 

 logna, in 1665, and studied the masteqiieces in the 

 monastery of San Michaels in Bosco, and particularly 

 imitated the Caracci, whose works he also copied. 

 He received instruction from Canuti, then from Cig- 

 nani, afterwards studied in Venice and Parma, and 

 finally came out with lus own productions in his na- 

 tive city. His first work was the Combat of Her- 

 cules with Antaeus. From this time he had continual 

 employment. He painted, for cardinal Ottoboni, the 

 Seven Sacraments, now in the Dresden gallery ; se- 

 veral pieces for prince Eugene of Savoy, for the 

 elector of the Palatinate, for the grand duke of Tus- 

 cany, and for cardinal Lambertini, his patron, who 

 afterwards, when pope Benedict XIV., conferred on 

 him the honour of knighthood. Crespi, however, has 

 been frequently censured for the singular ideas which 

 he often introduced into his paintings ; e. g. he re- 

 presents Chiron giving his pupil Achilles a kick for 

 some fault that he had committed. Moreover, he 

 painted everything a prima, with strong, bold strokes, 

 in the manner of Caravaggio, and has become a man- 

 nerist from a desire to be constantly new. He liad 

 many scholars, among whom were his two sons, An- 

 tonio and Luigi Crespi. The latter distinguished 

 himself by his writings on painting. Crespi died in 

 1747. 



CRESSY. See Crecy. 



CREST (from the Latin crista) is used to signify 

 the rising on the defensive armour of the head, also 

 the ornament frequently affixed to the helmet, such 

 as a plume or tuft of feathers, a bunch of horse-hair, 

 &c. Warriors have always been hi the habit of 

 adorning their persons ; and the helmet, from its con- 

 spicuousness, is very naturally chosen as the place 

 of one of the principal ornaments. We learn from 

 Homer (//. iii. 336, that the crests of the earlier 

 Greeks were of horse-hair ; afterwards plumes, espe- 

 cially red ones, were adopted. (Virg. *En. ix. 50, 

 271, 808.) To gain an enemy's crest was ac- 

 counted an honourable achievement, as it was reck- 

 oned among the spolia. The Greeks called the crest 

 ipaXoj and Xo'pf ; but some are of opinion that these 

 words mean different things, pa**; signifying the 

 raised part of the helmet (conus), and x^o; the real 

 crest. The crests of commanders (a^^aXw), of 

 course, were generally larger than those of common 

 soldiers. The ^Eginetan statues (see JEginetan Style) 

 have crests of horse-hair. In the middle ages, when 

 rank and honours became hereditary, and particular 

 heraldic devices were appropriated to particular fa- 

 milies, the crest became a distinguishing hereditary 

 mark of honour. It denotes, in heraldry, a figure 

 placed upon a wreath, coronet, or cap of mainte- 

 nance, above both helmet and shield ; as, for instance, 

 the crest of a bishop is the mitre. The crest is con- 

 sidered a greater criterion of nobility than the armoui 



