GIUSEPPE MARIA, a Bolognese painter, born in 1665, was an artist of undoubted genius and great industry. He successfully imitated, at different periods, the Carracci, the Venetian school, and Baroccio, in endeavouring to strike out a novel style of art. In this he succeeded; but he is considered by Mengs as having tended to corrupt the school of Bologna by capriciously introducing in his historical, and even into his religious compositions, a species of caricature. His earlier pictures are painted in a firm and commendable tone of colouring; but many of his later pieces are negligently pencilled, and his colours, from carelessness in their preparation and haste in laying them on, are raw, and have utterly faded in their tints; while in his shadows and draperies, from his attempts at novelty, he has degenerated into mannerism. He was much employed by the nobility, and also by the pope, who conferred on him the title of Cavaliere. Crespi was considered in Italy as the first painter of his age. He died in 1747. Lanzi, Stor. Pitt.