The Fall of Simon Magus

Around 1743 the Premonstratensian canons of Hradisko, an abbey on the edge of Olomouc in Moravia, wanted a new altarpiece, and this canvas is Paul Troger's design for it. The altarpiece itself is lost. Another version survives in the Kunsthalle Bremen, and a third, in Budapest, is catalogued as studio work.

The story comes from early Christian legend: in Rome, before Emperor Nero, the magician Simon tried to fly to prove he was divine, and fell when the apostle Peter prayed. Simon appears high on the left, tumbling out of the sky among dark figures, while Peter stands in the centre with the keys at his side, pointing upward. Nero watches from a raised throne.

The abbey was dissolved in 1784 under Emperor Joseph II's church reforms, and since 1802 its buildings have served as a military hospital.