Abstrakt
Although Altomonte enjoyed a long artistic career, his significant drawings are all dated from the last two decade of his work, i.e. the period of his late maturity and old age. The set of drawings for the decoration of the Salzburg residence (from the first decade of the 18th century) may seem rather isolated in this respect.
These works represents the evidence of his first spontaneous design. Drawings first published in this essay display yet another, deeper dimension of the artistic method of the Austrian master.
His chalk sketches concentrate on individual figures or groups in the whole. They are not executed in any derived academic mannerism, but sufficiently manifest the effort of an independent artist.
Altomonte’s drawings are clearly those of a master trained in Rome in the mid-17th century
