Considerations regarding Girolamo Troppa: a Roman "tenebrista" of the late 17th century

The article focuses, from a critical point of view, on the figure of the painter Girolamo Troppa (Rocchette in Sabina, 1637 - post 1710), an artist of the Roman school, initially a follower of Pier Francesco Mola, then later entering the sphere of influence of Giovan Battista Gaulli, whose assistant he was in the decoration of the Roman church of Santa Marta. His later activity also shows the influence of Maratta, who between the late 17th and early 18th century became the undisputed master in Rome. Troppa is placed by the author in that current of artists described as “tenebristi”, due to his predilection for strong chiaroscuro contrasts and dark tones, animated by a common naturalistic origin, not perfectly adapted to the Baroque of Berninian and Cortonesque stamp, then with Marattesque classicism. His conspicuous artistic production, consisting of frescoes, altarpieces and gallery paintings – made known partly thanks to the Ricerche in Umbria series edited by Bruno Toscano and assistants – has been stabilized with the recent contributions of Eric Schleier, which also relate to his production of drawings. He was an extremely prolific painter due to the rapidity with which he executed his works, a quality he was evidently pleased about since in one of his landscapes he added the notation: “Opera di un giorno del Cavalier Troppa”. His corpus of works is enlarged by the publication of some canvases that have reappeared on the market, but in particular by the four altarpieces made for the Carmelite church of Caprarola and two altarpieces housed in the Museo Diocesano di Terni, presented here. The article ends with an updated list of all the works attributed to the painter, arranged in alphabetical order according to location.

Index

Anna Anguissola On the semantics of architectural tradition: the biclinium in the House of Apollo at Pompei (VI, 7, 23)
read abstract » pp. 2-21
Divo Savelli For the chest of Saints Protus, Hyacinth and Nemesius by Lorenzo Ghiberti: the rediscovered epigraph
read abstract » pp. 22-25
Sara Menato A new 'Salvator mundi' by Carpaccio
read abstract » pp. 26-31
Guido Rebecchini Giulio Romano and the production of silverware for Ferrante and Ercole Gonzaga
read abstract » pp. 32-43
Andrea Daninos Martino Palsqualigo: the 'sfregiato' of Leone Leoni
read abstract » pp. 44-54
Giovanni Santucci Two designs by Pellegrino Tibaldi for the 'Sacro Speco' of the Sanctuary of Caravaggio in the Largest Album of John Talman
read abstract » pp. 55-67
Stefano De Mieri Wenzel Cobergher in Naples and Rome
read abstract » pp. 68-87
Francesco Petrucci Considerations regarding Girolamo Troppa: a Roman "tenebrista" of the late 17th century
read abstract » pp. 88-102