Daniel Crespi, “Cain Killing Abel”, Oil on Canvas, 1618-1620

This striking image, depicting the struggle between Cain and Abel, is an early work of the artist, datable to circa 1618/20.  Its recent cleaning has allowed its assesment as a signed work by the artist.

Despite his short career (the artist died in his early 30’s), Crespi’s pictoral style developed markedly, and drew on a wide spectrum of sources.  This Cain and Abel shows traits of his work in the last years of the second decade of the 17th Century, with lingering mannerist traces of the influence of  Cerano and Giulio Cesare Procaccini.  It has been suggested that it is part of a group of drawings and paintings wherein Crespi was working through issues of anatomy and movement, and all are related in their sense of dynamism.

Included in this group are two drawings of anatomical studies in the Ambrosiana  as well as a drawing in a private collection.  These studies are not necessarily preparatory for the present canvas, but appear to show Crespi working through issues that he faced with the compostion.  A lost painting by Crespi of the Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew, known through copies, demonstrates similar concerns.