Daniel Seiter (1647–1705) Lot n° 26

Saint Jerome Contemplating a Crucifix 98 × 80.5 cm Oil on canvas The Vienna-born artist moved to Italy at a young age and came to Venice in 1667, where he received his training from Johann Carl Loth. In 1683 in the Congregazione Virtuosi al Pantheon and in 1686 in the Accademia di San Luca. In 1688 he was called to Turin by the Duke of Savoy. He was probably Loth's first Austrian pupil and worked in his workshop for around 12 years before he went to Rome around 1680 and was able to develop his elegant painting style there, combining Venetian tenebrism and Carlo Maratti's classicist painting style. In 1683 he was accepted into the Congregazione Virtuosi al Pantheon, and in 1686 into the Accademia di San Luca. In 1688 the Duke of Savoy summoned him to Turin. St. Jerome sits propped up on his left arm and, with his head bowed, looks at the small crucifix that he is holding in his left hand. He has placed his right hand on his chest in a gesture of devotion. The upper body of the saint is naked, a red cloak covers him from the hips down. The athletic body of the old man shows signs of age such as wrinkles and sagging skin. The Holy Scriptures are open to the right behind Jerome. He had translated it from Greek into Latin. The background is dark. On the right there is probably a rock. The iconography of the penitent Jerome regularly depicts the saint as a hermit in the wilderness. The painting follows a representation type that was influenced by Carl Loth and varied several times by his students, in particular Johann Michael Rottmayr, Hans Adam Weißenkircher, and Daniel Seiter. They all have the specific figure of St. Jerome shown as an older man with a beard and half-nude. In the present painting by Jerome, the Venetian tradition with the figure type of Carl Loth is clearly given, but there is also a certain Roman elegance and nobility, which, like many other works by Seiter, this painting of St. Jerome also posesses. Despite all the differences in comparison with the two previously known depictions of Hieronymus by Seiters in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig (Inv.No. 1020) and in the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden (Inv.No. 2034), the attribution of the present painting with St. Hieronymus to Daniel Seiter is thoroughly justified in terms of style. Expert opinion from Dr. Johann Kronbichler, June 9, 2021 Private collection