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Lot Essay
This depiction of the artist in ragged cloths is typical of Cipper's compositions, which nearly exclusively consist of realistic genre scenes filled with burlesque grinning peasants at work. Although little is known about his artistic training, his work is clearly influenced by that of Giacomo Ceruti, close to whom he was recorded living in 1716, as well as by that of Pietro Bellotti and Bernhard Keilhau.
Both Gerlinde Gruber (loc. cit.) and Maria Silvia Proni (loc. cit.) date this picture to the first decade of the eighteenth century, when the artist was in his forties.
Another picture of The artist with a garzone grinding pigments shows Todeschini in a similar pose behind a canvas on which the profile of an old lady is painted (Proni, op.cit., p. 66, fig. 18). Considerd by Tognoli (op. cit., p. 126) to be autograph, that picture was rejected by Proni and Gruber (loc. cit.) because of its inferior quality in comparison with the present picture. A picture of An artist in his studio in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court, dated 1736, was traditionally believed to be a self portrait. However, Proni and later Gruber argue that it is a portrait by Cipper of another artist, for the sitter is considerably younger than Cipper who was then sixty-six (ibid.).
Both Gerlinde Gruber (loc. cit.) and Maria Silvia Proni (loc. cit.) date this picture to the first decade of the eighteenth century, when the artist was in his forties.
Another picture of The artist with a garzone grinding pigments shows Todeschini in a similar pose behind a canvas on which the profile of an old lady is painted (Proni, op.cit., p. 66, fig. 18). Considerd by Tognoli (op. cit., p. 126) to be autograph, that picture was rejected by Proni and Gruber (loc. cit.) because of its inferior quality in comparison with the present picture. A picture of An artist in his studio in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court, dated 1736, was traditionally believed to be a self portrait. However, Proni and later Gruber argue that it is a portrait by Cipper of another artist, for the sitter is considerably younger than Cipper who was then sixty-six (ibid.).