Magnasco, Alessandro

(Lissandrino). Born in 1667, in Genoa; died there Mar. 19, 1749. Italian painter.

Magnasco worked mainly in Milan, Genoa, and Florence. He was influenced by S. Rosa, J. Callot, and the masters of the Genoese school. Magnasco’s paintings, executed with energetic brush strokes, adhere to a dim, shimmering color scheme with a predominance of brown and olive-green tones. His work, permeated by a tragic sense of man’s insignificance in the face of the blind forces of nature and social realities, consists mainly of genre scenes from the life of gypsies, soldiers, and monks. His paintings are marked by a demonically sarcastic attitude toward life (the cycle of pictures with scenes of monastery life, 1720-25, Zeitenstetten Monastery, Austria), and by stormy landscapes.