Paul Troger
Encyclopedia
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n painter, draughtsman and printmaker of the late Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
period. Troger's illusionistic ceiling paintings in fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
are notable for their dramatic vitality of movement and their palette of light colors.
Paul Troger’s style, particularly in his frescoes, dominated Austrian painting until the end of the 18th century and profoundly influenced significant artists of the next generation, notably Franz Anton Maulbertsch
Franz Anton Maulbertsch
Franz Anton Maulbertsch was an Austrian painter and engraver, one of the most renowned exponents of roccoco painting in the German region....
, Josef Ignaz Mildorfer, Johann Wenzel Bergl.
Life
Paul Troger was born on October 30, 1698, in Welsberg, in the Puster Valley of the County of TyrolCounty of Tyrol
The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
. At the age of 16, under the patronage of the aristocratic Tyrolean von Firmian family, he visited Fiume and became a pupil of Giuseppe Alberti
Giuseppe Alberti
Giuseppe Alberti was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He was born at Cavalese, in what was then Austrian Tyrol. After having studied medicine at Padua he decided to become a painter and architect. He worked under Pietro Liberi in Venice, then in Rome, and finally settled at Trieste....
. He painted his first fresco “Three Angels with the Cross and Putti”, in the Kalvarienkirche, Kaltern
Kaltern an der Weinstraße
Kaltern an der Weinstraße is a municipality in South Tyrol, in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is located about 40 km north of the city of Trento and about 12 km southwest of the city of Bolzano....
(1722).
In 1722, the prince-bishop of Gurk sent Paul Troger to Venice, where he discovered the works of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was an Italian rococo painter of religious subjects and genre scenes.-Biography:...
, and Giovanni Battista Pittoni. Troger also studied in Rome with Sebastiano Ricci
Sebastiano Ricci
Sebastiano Ricci was an Italian painter of the late Baroque school of Venice. About the same age as Piazzetta, and an elder contemporary of Tiepolo, he represents a late version of the vigorous and luminous Cortonesque style of grand manner fresco painting.-Early years:He was born in Belluno, son...
, in Naples with Francesco Solimena
Francesco Solimena
Francesco Solimena was a prolific Italian painter of the Baroque era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen.-Biography:Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino, near Avellino....
and in Bologna, the leading artistic centers of Italy at the time.
On his return to Austria, Troger first worked in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
from 1726 to 1728, where he painted the "Glory of Saint Cajetan
Saint Cajetan
Saint Cajetan , born Gaetano dei Conti di Tiene , is a Catholic Church saint and founder of the order of the Clerics Regular, better known as the Theatines...
" on the ceiling of St. Cajetan’s Church, Salzburg (1728). He afterwards established himself in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, where the art of ceiling frescoes was, however, dominated by Johann Michael Rottmayr
Johann Michael Rottmayr
Johann Michael Rottmayr , was an Austrian painter. He was the first notable baroque painter north of Italy....
and Daniel Gran.
Paul Troger became the favourite fresco painter in Lower Austria
Lower Austria
Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...
n monasteries in collaboration with the architect Josef Munggenast
Josef Munggenast
Josef Munggenast was an Austrian architect and masterbuilder of the Baroque period.Munggenast was born in Schnann in Tyrol, the nephew of Jakob Prandtauer, who advanced his career and whose influence marked his style for the whole of his life.From 1717 Munggenast was master mason in Sankt Pölten...
. In 1753, he joined the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. Troger became professor and was made director of the Imperial Academy in 1754. His most prominent student was Franz Anton Maulbertsch
Franz Anton Maulbertsch
Franz Anton Maulbertsch was an Austrian painter and engraver, one of the most renowned exponents of roccoco painting in the German region....
. His most important contribution to Austrian painting was to reject the strong dark palette, typical of the beginning of the 18th century, in favor of an increasingly lighter palette, typical of the new Rococo taste.
Works
Although he did many easel altar paintings and drawings, Paul Troger became famous for his frescoes and much in demand throughout the Austrian lands. Troger's frescoes are remarkable for their immense vitality of movement and their light colors. Noteworthy among them are the following ceiling paintings:- Frescoes of the Church of the Englische Fräulein in St. Pölten, (1729/1730);
- Frescoes in large monastic buildings of AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
:- Melk AbbeyMelk AbbeyMelk Abbey or Stift Melk is an Austrian Benedictine abbey, and one of the world's most famous monastic sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Danube in Lower Austria, adjoining the Wachau valley....
- Marble Hall and the library (1732–1733)
- Göttweig AbbeyGöttweig AbbeyGöttweig Abbey is a Benedictine monastery near Krems in Lower Austria.-History:Göttweig Abbey was founded as a monastery of canons regular by Blessed Altmann, Bishop of Passau...
- Apotheosis of Charles VI as Apollo over the main stairway (1739)
- Altenburg AbbeyAltenburg AbbeyAltenburg Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Altenburg in Lower Austria.It was founded in 1144 by Countess Hildeburg of Boigen-Rebgau. Under the abbots Maurus Boxler and Placidus Much the abbey took on its present Baroque form...
- Church, stairwell and library (1732–1734)
- Zwettl AbbeyZwettl AbbeyZwettl Abbey is a Cistercian monastery located in Zwettl in Lower Austria, in the Diocese of St. Pölten.- History :Zwettl Abbey was founded in 1137 by Hademar I of Kuenring, with Herrmann, a monk of Heiligenkreuz Abbey, as its first abbot . It was a daughter house of Heiligenkreuz, of the line of...
(1733); - Seitenstetten AbbeySeitenstetten AbbeySeitenstetten Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Seitenstetten in the Mostviertel region of Lower Austria.-History:...
- Marble hall (1735) and library (1740)
- Geras AbbeyGeras AbbeyGeras Abbey is a Premonstratensian monastery in Geras in Lower Austria. Since 1783 it has also owned the premises of the former Pernegg Abbey nearby.-History:...
- Marble hall (1738)
- Melk Abbey
- Frescoes for the church of nuns of the Order of Elizabeth, in BratislavaBratislavaBratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
(1740s) - Apotheosis of Saint Ignatius in St. Ignatius’ church in GyőrGyor-Climate:-Main sights:The ancient core of the city is Káptalan Hill at the confluence of three rivers: the Danube, Rába and Rábca. Püspökvár, the residence of Győr’s bishops can be easily recognised by its incomplete tower. Győr’s oldest buildings are the 13th-century dwelling tower and the...
, Hungary (1744; 1747) - Adoration of the Lamb in Brixen Cathedral (1748–1750)
- Dome of the pilgrimage church of Maria Dreieichen near ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
(1752)