(Vienna 1647–1705 Turin)
Allegory of the Four Seasons: Flora, Ceres, Bacchus and Pan,
oil on canvas, 122.5 x 179.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
art market, France;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Matthias Kunze for confirming the attribution for the present painting and for his help in cataloguing the present lot (written communication, in copy). He intends to include the painting in a forthcoming supplement to the artist’s catalogue raisonné.

The present painting relates to a composition with similar dimensions by Daniel Seiter in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich (inv. no. 5140).

Born in Vienna, Daniel Seiter trained as an artist from around 1670 onwards with the German-born painter Johann Carl Loth in Venice, in whose workshop he subsequently remained for many years. He became a member of the circle of the so-called tenebrosi, a group of painters active in Venice in the second half of the seventeenth century practicing a distinct chiaroscuro style. In 1681 Seiter was first recorded in Rome where he was to return repeatedly for short stays in the course of his career. In 1688, Duke Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy called him to Turin as a court painter, where he lived until his death.

The present painting is a significant addition to Daniel Seiter’s painted oeuvre. It was executed around 1685, when Daniel Seiter had joined the circle of Carlo Maratta, under whose influence he created numerous paintings of mythological subject matter. The present painting of the Four Seasons is an example of this development. In terms of motifs, it shows close similarities to the Venus, Ceres and Bacchus at Burghley House, Stamford (inv. no. PIC296), which is based on a composition by Carlo Maratta known through a drawing conserved in the Düsseldorf Kunstpalast.

However, the composition has been conceived here as a landscape format and is entirely dominated by the allegorical personification of Spring, readily turning her scantily clad body to the spectator while she elegantly looks at Ceres, the personification of Summer, inside the picture, with Bacchus, representing Autumn, pouring wine. Behind her, to her left, the aged figure of Winter, warming his fingers at a brazier, makes the scene complete. The atmosphere of the present picture is likewise determined by a modest tenebroso unfolding in a tender play of nuanced colour values oscillating between light and dark. What is typical of Seiter is the contrast between the greyish green basic tone of the semi-dark background, the vibrant red of Bacchus’s expansive cloak, and the brightly glowing skin tones and garments of Spring. This also complies with the contrast between Venus’ sensually relaxed pose and the burly nudity of Bacchus. What is likewise typical of Seiter is the incorporation of such still life elements as the floral wreath, with which he intended to show off his virtuoso skills as a painter.

The present painting is an example of the popularity of Seiter’s depictions of mythological themes among collectors and illustrates how he was able to establish himself successfully in Rome as was recorded by his biographer Lione Pascoli (see L. Pascoli, Vite de‘ pittori, scultori, ed architetti moderni, Rome 1736, vol. II, pp. 321–322).