Lot 1053 | Zephyr and Flora

KNOLLER, MARTIN
1725 Steinach - 1804 Milan

Title: Zephyr and Flora.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Mounting: Laid down on card.
Measurement: 22,5 x 24,5cm.
Frame/Pedestal: Framed.
Literature:
B. Baumgartl: Martin Knoller 1725-1804. Malerei zwischen Spätbarock und Klassizismus in Österreich, Italien und Süddeutschland, Munich 2004, p. 240.

Provenance:
Private ownership, Italy.

Martin Knoller is generally regarded as one of the greatest fresco painters of his time in the Austrian region. After training with Paul Troger in Austria, he went to Rome in 1755 and then to Milan, where he married the daughter of a wealthy merchant and became a professor at the Aaccademia di Belle Arti. In the Lombard city Knoller had several commissions, among which the fresco decoration of the Palazzo Greppi stands out. In 1772 the palace was built after a design by Giuseppe Piermarini, who completed the work in 1778. Between 1778 and 1779, the Austrian artist designed various rooms, including the ballroom, the coffee room and a room on the first floor. In this room he depicted Zephyr and Flora, of which the present work is the preparatory study.

Typical of the artist is a liveliness and variety of colour, which is particularly noticeable in the bright draperies. In his works, however, he tends towards a strict classicism, with clear and orderly compositions.