Alessandro Magnasco

Sacrilegious Robbery 

 1731

Magnasco trained at a very young age under his father, Stefano.He was in Milan in 1667, working as an assistant to Filippo Abbiati.he earned considerable success from his genre scenes and worked as a figure painter for painters of real and capriccio landscapces ( including Antonio Francesco Peruzzini, Clemente Spera, and Marco Ricci).He spent long periods of time in Florence between 1703 and 1711 under the patronage of Ferdinando de' Medici.He studied the work of Callot and Dutch and Flemish masters in the grand duke's collections.He painted scenes depicting the life of the poor and courtiers.He lived in Milan until 1735, where he was in contact with families belonging to the '' enlightened aristocracy''.He disguised his satirical intrentions - satire critizing the lack of learning and culture,the failure to think and reflect, against prejudice and greed-in paintings that were striking for their pictorial qualities.According to contemporary biographies, toward the end of his career he was in Genoa.