Daniel Seiter

1647 – 1705

Daniel Seiter (Saiter; Seutter; Seyter; Syder), Austrian painter and draughtsman, active in Italy, where he was called Cavalier Daniele or Daniele Fiammingo). He brought an art combining the influences of Johann Carl Loth, Pietro da Cortona and Carlo Maratti to the Savoy court in Turin. Cutting short his military career, he took refuge in Venice in 1670 and devoted himself to painting. He became a student of Johann Carl Loth (St Sebastian, 1670, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt). After a stay in Rome (1682-88), where he painted numerous altarpieces that were affected mainly by Carlo Maratti, he settled in Turin, where he was engaged in the decoration of the royal palace. In 1696 he was named first painter to the court. As a pupil of Loth he had developed a powerful style based on chiaroscuro effects and balancing academic and naturalistic expressive elements. His strong palette and his distinctive draftsmanship clearly predestined him for a career as an easel painter, but he managed to translate these stylistic features into the medium of wall painting as well.

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