CRETI, DONATO. - Painter and engraver, b. at Cremona on 24 Feb. 1677, d. at Bologna on 29 Jan. 1749. He worked chiefly in the latter city, where he learned the first elements of painting from Lorenzo Pasinelli.
The earlier Bolognese artistic tradition found in him a worthy successor, as is attested by the large canvases depicting S. Vincenzo Ferreri who restores a child to life (much retouched) in S. Domenico at Bologna; La Vergine in Gloria venerata da s. Ignazio and S. Carlo che soccorre i poveri (executed by him in his final years), both in the church of S. Pietro at Bologna. Other works by C. are to be found in the sanctuary of S. Luca, near Bologna, in the picture gallery and municipal collections of the same city, as well as in certain churches at Bergamo, Rimini, and Lucca. The elegance of his figures and the subtlety of his colouring show affinities with eighteenth-century French painting. He had several pupils, among them: Francesco L'Ange, Carlo Giovannini, and Ercole Graziani iuniore.