The painter Giulia Crespi was born around 1583, and shared a workshop with her brother, Giovanni Battista Crespi, called Il Cerano. She is last documented in 1628 in Milan. Although scant information survives regarding her life and career, there is ample evidence of her skill as a painter owing to her many works recorded in important collections.
In the seventeenth century a Saint Francis by the painter is mentioned in the collection of Manfredo Settala; the inventories of Giovanni Carlo Doria, one of the greatest collectors of his age, contain three of her works; and a Head of John the Baptist by her was recorded in the collection of the Cardinal Scaglia. At the end of the eighteenth century in the inventory drawn up at the death of another great collector, Count Giacomo Carrara, there is mention of a 'Woman dressed in military style in the act of cutting her hair [therefore probably Berenice] by the painter known as the Milanese Cerrani.'
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