Alessandro Magnasco, genannt „Il Lissandrino“, um 1667 Genua – 1749 ebenda

THE DOG TRAINING (PITOCCHI E LA GAZZA AMMAESTRATA) Oil on canvas. 61x 59 cm. Expertise by Anna Orlando, Genoa, December 2023 (further references and image comparisons there). Magnasco is one of the most astonishing phenomena in Italian painting. It is not only his dark coloring and Mannerist conception of figures, but above all his choice of subject matter that sets him apart from his contemporaries. It is not uncommon for his paintings to illuminate a parallel world separate from bourgeois and courtly society. In this picture, Magnasco also shows a bizarre juxtaposition of figures with their children from the poorest sections of society engaged in everyday activities. In a dark interior, one is busy training a dog, next to it idling, while an old man with a book sits elevated, looking at the group and apparently giving instructions. Next to him, a man is darning his socks. On the right, a round-arched view of buildings in a similarly poor state. A.R. Magnasco belongs to the Italian late Baroque period. As the son of an artist, he studied under Abbiati in Milan in 1681/82. As a "figurista", he used staffage figures in landscapes by colleagues. In 1703, he worked together with Francesco Peruzzini at the Medici court in Florence, but returned to Genoa in 1735. He now produced paintings with unusual subjects, including scenes of inquisition and torture, beggars and carnies. He was therefore interested in documenting the poverty and misery of his time. His work was only rediscovered in the 20th century after Benno Geiger published a monograph in 1914. This was followed by exhibitions in Berlin, Munich, Cologne and Paris. Alfred Flechtheim saw him as a forerunner of modernism. Literature: Benno Geiger, Alessandro Magnasco, Berlin 1914. Fausta Franchini Guelfi, Magnasco, Alessandro. In: Mario Caravale (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 67: Macchi-Malaspina. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2006. Laura Muti, De Sarno Prignano, Alessandro Magnasco, Faenza 1994 (1401693) (11) Alessandro Magnasco, also known as "Il Lissandrino", ca. 1667 Genoa - 1749 ibid. DOG TRAINING (PITOCCHI E LA GAZZA AMMAESTRATA) Oil on canvas. 61x 59 cm. Accompanied by an expert's report by Anna Orlando, Genoa, December 2023 (with further references and image comparisons). Literature: Benno Geiger, Alessandro Magnasco, Berlin 1914. Fausta Franchini Guelfi, Magnasco, Alessandro, in: Mario Caravale (ed.), Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI), vol. 67: Macchi-Malaspina. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2006. Laura Muti, Daniele de Sarno Prignano, Alessandro Magnasco, Faenza 1994.