(Steinach / Brenner 1725–1804 Milan)
Cicero discovering the grave of Archimedes, oil on canvas, 24.2 x 30.5 cm, framed,

Inscribed on the reverse (signed?), Martin Knoller and fragments of hand-written notes about previous ownership.

Literature: E. Baumgartl, Martin Knoller, Berlin 2004, p. 283, cat. raisonné no.: S-HMA 1b. This is the oil sketch produced in 1765 by Knoller for a painting in the collection of the Prince of Kaunitz, Schloss Austerlitz. The authenticity of this picture has been confirmed by Dr Magdalena Hörmann-Weingartner, Innsbruck, (written communication to the collector dated December 1981). She is of the opinion that the picture is identical to one that Knoller painted for Count Firmian in Milan.

The paintings 421-447 originate from a Southern German private collection, which was amassed over the last few decades with great connoisseurship and art historical interest. The collector, a doctor, specialized from early on in 18th-century Southern German and Austrian oil studies and bozzetti, alongside a number of Italian works of a similar quality. Thus a small, but choice collection was brought together, characterized by its owner’s cultivated taste and knowledge of artistic interconnections.

Inscribed on the reverse (signed?), Martin Knoller and fragments of hand-written notes about previous ownership. Literature: E. Baumgartl, Martin Knoller, Berlin 2004, p. 283, cat. raisonné no.: S-HMA 1b. This is the oil sketch produced in 1765 by Knolle