CRESPI, Giuseppe Maria
(b. 1665, Bologna, d. 1747, Bologna)

Ecstasy of St Margaret of Cortona

1701
Oil on canvas, 230 x 182 cm
Museo Diocesano, Cortona

The darkness which surrounds the entire scene is broken by flashes of light which reflect the figures, particularly on Christ and Margaret. This play of light seems to seize the momentum of the ecstasy, creating an intense, mystic closeness between the two subjects.