Capricious, Informal Portraits
Influenced by his visit in 1717 to Giuseppe Maria Crespi, the great painter from Bologna represented in this exhibition by his Self-portrait, Fra'Galgario began to paint in a freer manner. Several portraits, although commissioned, present their models in extravagant costumes. Wigs are replaced by strange head coverings. Other pictures show friends or relations of the painter in spontaneous, natural attitudes. The influence of Rembrandt, whose pictures are in great demand in Europe and are each worth a small fortune, also explains Fra'Galgario's interest in rendering expressions unhampered by etiquette-related conventions. Pictures of the Frenchman Grimou and the Bohemian Brandl bear witness to this new-found freedom.
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