(Welsberg 1698–1762 Vienna)
Saint Bartholomew holding a knife,
oil on canvas, 42 x 34.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 19 September 1972, lot 132;
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 22 June 1983, lot 388;
Private collection, Vienna;
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 13 October 2010, lot 318;
Private collection, Austria

Exhibited:
St. Pölten, Diözesanmuseum, Paul Troger. Vision und Andacht, 5 May–31 October 2012

Literature:
J. Kronbichler, Paul Troger 1698–1762, Berlin/Munich 2012, p. 294, no. G 59, illustrated p. 293;
W. Huber, J. Kronbichler (eds.), Paul Troger. Vision und Andacht, exhibition catalogue, St. Pölten 2012, pp. 142, 143, illustrated

The present painting depicts an elderly bearded man looking upwards while turned slightly over his left shoulder. The depiction of the knife in his right hand identifies him as Saint Bartholomew, who died after he was flayed alive for his beliefs. Comparable figures of the same sort are encountered throughout the body of work of Troger. According to Johann Kronbichler, a work closely related to the present painting is the artist’s Saint Jacob conserved in the Museum am Dom, St. Pölten (inv. no. B 799). Comparing the present work with other treatments of similar subjects, the author dates the work to the early 1730s (see literature).

Trained by several Italian artists, including Giuseppe Alberti, the artist travelled extensively throughout Italy and studied the works of Tiepolo, Veronese, and Solimena closely. After these years, the artist worked in Salzburg and later settled in Vienna, where he was appointed Director of the Academy of Fine Arts. Renowned for his mastery of fresco painting, Troger’s works adorn the walls and ceilings of numerous churches and monasteries throughout Europe and can be found in almost every abbey church in Lower Austria. Among his most prominent commissions are the decorations of the Marble Hall and Library of Stift Melk. However, his fresco cycle in the Stift Altenburg is where his dynamic compositions and vivid storytelling truly culminate.