Daniel Seiter

Daniel Seiter,Diana next to the Corpse of Orion,Louvre,1685

Daniel Seiter,Saiter,orSeyter(c.1642/1647–1705) was aViennese-born painter of theBaroque,who trained and worked in Italy.

Biography

According to Houbraken, Seiter was born on the border of Switzerland and brought up in Vienna. It is unknown who his first teacher was, but as a young man he crossed the alps toVenice,where he apprenticed withJohann Carl Loth.He copied his style so well, that even at the time Houbraken was writing (1718), it was impossible to tell whether a painting was by him or Lott. He then moved toRometo work in the studio ofCarlo Maratta,and while there, he joined theBentvueghelsand received thebentnickname ofMorgenstar.HisMartyrdom of St Catherine(1685) andMartyrdom of St Lawrenceremained on its original place, the side walls of the vestibule of theCybo ChapelinSanta Maria del Popolo.

Becoming successful in Rome, he married a bookseller's daughter and won a lucrative commission fromCharles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy.The Duke's sonVictor Amadeus II of Sardiniacommissioned him in turn to decorate theRoyal Palace of Turinin 1675, when he became duke after his father died. He liked Seiter's work so much that he knighted him. Today there is still a gallery there named after him. He also helped decorate in fresco the cupola of the chapel of the Ospedale Maggiore.

Seiter followed Victor Amadeus on his travels, and painted inBrunswickandDresden.

Trivia

Daniel Seiter Hall in theRoyal PalaceofTurin.

In his biography of Seiter, Houbraken tells a curious anecdote about the Duke and Seiter, saying that Seiter was given a walking cane with diamonds on the head of it, to use as amaulstickto rest his hand on while painting. This story was told to him by a painter namedLe Blon.He calls it aMaalstok.When Seiter was done painting he tried to give it back, but the Duke's guard told him to keep it as a token of regard. A similar expensive gift (it was solid gold) was given toDaniel SeghersbyFrederick Henry, Prince of Orangein exchange for a garland painting that hangs today in theMauritshuismuseum.

Though details of his career are sketchy, Seiter became a painter for the Dukes of Savoy much later than 1655, and thus wasnota witness to his patron's murderous massacre of the Vaudois, which the poetJohn Miltonmemorialized in hisOn the Late Massacre in Piedmont.Seiter died inTurin.

References

• Bryan, Michael (1889). Walter Armstrong; Robert Edmund Graves (eds.).Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical.Vol. II L-Z. London: George Bell and Sons. p. 439.