Lot 44: GIROLAMO TROPPA

GIROLAMO TROPPA ROCCHETTE, SABINA 1630 - AFTER 1710 ROME (?) HERCULES FIGHTING A DRAGON, WITH ANOTHER STUDY OF HERCULES SLAYING CACUS Pen and brown ink and wash, heightened with white, over black chalk 267 by 400 mm

Bears two unidentified collector's paraphes, verso

Troppa was active in Rome from 1656, where he was influenced by artists such as Mola and Giacinto Brandi. He collaborated with Beinaschi, Daniel Seiter and also Gaulli, with whom he worked on the decoration of the church of Santa Marta in the 1670s. Troppa's previously neglected activity as a draughtsman was explained at length in two articles by Eric Schleier published in the early 1990s.υ1

The present sheet is unconnected but the use of wash, reminiscent of Mola, is characteristic of Troppa's work. It compares, in particular, with two drawings representing the Passion of Christ, in the Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf, which were first attributed to Troppa by Jörg Merz.υ Schleier notes that the pair of drawings anticipates the style of Venetian masters of the 18th Century such as Diziani.υ2

1. E. Schleier, 'Disegni di Girolamo Troppa nelle Collezioni Tedesche e altrove', in Antichità Viva, no. 6, 1990, pp. 23-34 and idem, 'Aggiunte a Girolamo Troppa pittore e disegnatore', in Antichità Viva, no. 9, 1993, pp. 16-23
2. E. Schleier, op. cit., 1993, pp. 21-2, figs. 17-18