PAUL TROGER (attr. a) Lot n° 1155

(Monguelfo, 1698 - Vienna, 1762) Penitent Magdalene Oil on canvas, 126X102 cm Little is known about the painter's training; sources indicate that, thanks to the benevolence of Count Franz Alphons Georg von Firmian, with whom he served as a boy apprentice from a very young age, Troger was introduced into the workshop of Giuseppe Alberti and later went to Venice. Upon his return home, the painter is dubiously assigned the frescoes in the Ress house in Cavalese, but there is no doubt, however, that by the end of the second decade he was carrying out his activity in full autonomy. Analysis of the youthful works reveal a good technical skill and figurative culture, influenced by lagoon painting, which was enriched during the 1920s by a new trip to Italy, staying in Rome, Naples, Bologna and Venice. The canvas under consideration should consequently be placed in the early years of his activity, due to the obvious similarities with the style of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, an author who particularly marked the artist's style.