Lot Essay
We are grateful to Professor Francesco Petrucci for proposing the attribution to Trevisani, and to Dr. Karin Wolfe for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs. Professor Petrucci dates the painting to circa 1720/5 and will include it in his forthcoming publication on Roman 18th-century portraiture: Pittura di Ritratto a Roma. Il Settecento.
An old label on the stretcher records that this portrait of Count Nikolaus VII Pálffy ab Erdöd was painted in 1732, the year of his father's death and one year before he married Countess Marianna von Althaus. The Pálffy family is of Hungarian nobility dating back to the 14th century. One of the richest and most influential families in the region between the 17th and 19th centuries, its members occupied important administrative and military posts. Five became Field Marshals of the Holy Roman Empire between 1694 and 1760, including the sitter's father, Count Nikolaus VI Pálffy ab Erdöd (1667-1732), in 1709.
An old label on the stretcher records that this portrait of Count Nikolaus VII Pálffy ab Erdöd was painted in 1732, the year of his father's death and one year before he married Countess Marianna von Althaus. The Pálffy family is of Hungarian nobility dating back to the 14th century. One of the richest and most influential families in the region between the 17th and 19th centuries, its members occupied important administrative and military posts. Five became Field Marshals of the Holy Roman Empire between 1694 and 1760, including the sitter's father, Count Nikolaus VI Pálffy ab Erdöd (1667-1732), in 1709.