Saint Jerome

This signed work of Paul Trogner is related to the period following the artist’s return from Italy to Austria. The image shows the bust of St Jerome with a skull, crucifix, quill and inkpot. The character of the painting with the half-length figure of an elder has analogies in other of Troger’s compositions dated to the 1730s, such as St Tobias and Anne in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna. In the 1730s, Troger painted ceiling frescoes in Salzburg, Melk, Altenburg and Brixen. From 1751 he was a member of the Vienna Academy, where he was later active as professor and director, and influenced the entire following generation of artists (Mildorfer, Sigrist, Knoller); his drawings were particularly important in this respect.