Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Daniel Seiter (1649-1705) - Venice, Rome, Turin

Daniel Seiter
Judgment of Paris
ca. 1675-1700
oil on canvas
Chiswick House, London

Daniel Seiter
Apollo and Daphne
ca. 1675-1700
oil on canvas
Chiswick House, London

attributed to Daniel Seiter
Venus and Cupid
before 1705
oil on canvas
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

"Daniel Seiter was born in Vienna in 1649.  Originally a military engineer, he turned to painting in Venice about 1670 and made rapid progress under the tutelage of Johann Carl Loth.  He soon established his independence and received many contracts from the Venetian aristocracy.  After twelve years in Venice, toward the middle of the 1680s, he traveled to Verona and Milan, and was active in both cities for a few months.  He then went on – via Parma, Modena, Bologna and Florence – to Rome.  In 1688 he was called by Vittorio Amadeo II to Turin where he began the painting of several rooms in the ducal palace, an extensive project to which he applied himself, with the exception of two extended visits to Rome, until the end of his life.   . . .  Despite his Viennese background, Seiter reveals few specifically Germanic qualities in his works.  To Loth he was indebted for his robustly bold and energetically animated compositions, for his broad and (so to speak) flake-like application of paint and his effective use of color.  These are qualities which were later combined with a certain Roman elegance and nobility, and which were quite lacking in his teacher.  Seiter's talent was of a rather superficial nature, however; one discovers in his work neither profound psychological insight nor a personal manner of representation.  A particular predilection for depictions with erotic overtones is unmistakable.  He was very secure in his drawing of the nude figure, and despite all his attempts at elegance, these always contain a certain earthy power and succulence." 

– Hermann Voss, from Baroque Painting in Rome (1925), revised and translated by Thomas Pelzel (San Francisco: Alan Wofsy, 1997)

Daniel Seiter
Diana with the Corpse of Orion
1685
oil on canvas
Musée du Louvre

Daniel Seiter
Dead Christ adored by Angels and Two Franciscans
ca. 1675-1700
oil on canvas
Museo Diocesano Tridentino, Trento

Daniel Seiter
Dead Christ with the Madonna and St John the Evangelist
before 1705
oil on canvas
Stockport Museums, Manchester

Daniel Seiter
Jacob's Dream
before 1705
oil on canvas
Fondazione Sorgente Group, Rome

attributed to Daniel Seiter
Hercules releasing Prometheus
before 1705
drawing
Royal Collection, Great Britain

Daniel Seiter
Drunkenness of Noah
before 1705
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Daniel Seiter
Figure Study
before 1705
drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Daniel Seiter
Martyrdom of St Lawrence
1685
drawing
Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf

Daniel Seiter
Martyrdom of St Lawrence
1685
drawing
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Daniel Seiter
Mythological Group with Juno and Peacock
before 1705
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Daniel Seiter
Archangel Michael arousing the Dead on Judgment Day
before 1705
drawing
British Museum