In this slender painting, three musicians play their instruments – a large triangle with rings, a recorder and a lyre. None of them look out at the viewer, and two actually turn away, a pose for which Crespi was well known. A turbaned man pulling his horse by the bridle looms over the trio. To the left, in almost complete darkness, are three soldiers, with several more on horseback behind them.
Crespi’s use of dazzling light and deep shadow leads us through this nocturnal scene, from the lower musician’s crossed legs to the captivated child on the left, up to the upper bodies of the main figures and the forearm thrust out above them. He applied thick paint in the lightest areas, creating luminous effects in the white sleeves and exposed skin of the musicians, with thinner layers in shadowed areas. The palette is predominantly made up of earthy tones – warm reds and browns – with touches of off-white.
In this slender painting, three musicians play their instruments – a large triangle with rings, a recorder and a lyre. Two wear fur hats, perhaps identifying them as shepherds. None of them look out at the viewer, and two actually turn away, a pose for which Crespi was well known and which you can also see in Peasants with Donkeys, the companion piece to this work. The triangle player peers towards the left, as though looking at something outside the picture.
Behind the musicians, a turbaned man pulls his horse by the bridle. This detail is positioned in rather a strange way, probably because the top of the picture has been cut down: the animal seems to loom over the musicians and only its nose is visible. To the left, in almost complete darkness, are three soldiers deep in conversation. Several more on horseback enter the scene behind them.
Crespi was celebrated for his use of stark lighting, often set against a dark backdrop. Here, his nocturnal scene emphasises the triangular arrangement of the musicians and their movement, particularly the two nearest the foreground who play their instruments with enthusiasm. The contrast between dazzling light and deep shadow leads us through the composition, from the crossed legs of the lower musician to the face of the captivated child on the left, up to the back, torso, arms and moving fingers of the main figures, and then to the forearm of the man holding the bridle. To achieve these contrasts, Crespi built up the impasto in the lightest areas, creating luminous effects in the white sleeves and exposed skin of the musicians, but applied the paint thinly in shadowed areas, sometimes revealing the reddish ground. Many of his pictures have a monochrome palette of rich, earthy tones, predominantly warm reds and browns, with touches of off-white.
Although Crespi was trained with artists who worked in the academic tradition of painting, he chose to make himself the direct heir of the Carracci, a family of artists who had founded an Academy in Bologna, as a painter of everyday life. He was one of very few Italian artists of his day to paint kitchen scenes, domestic subjects and ordinary gatherings like the one depicted here.
