Born 1664 in Feldkich (Austria), died 1736 in Milan. The name il Todesco or il Todeschini bears witness to his German, resp. Austrian origin. Cipper was active in Lombardy and came under the influence of Lombard painters. His first known dated and signed work is a still life from 1700, Celery, cherries, figs and cheese (once Bergamo, private collection). Paintings in Cipper’s style, which we can reliably attribute to him, are fairly numerous. It seems that he painted mainly still lifes in his youth, but that he later turned to genre painting which made him famous. His subjects are always lower class people (farmers, artisans, old people, beggars) and scenes taken from their lives, often with a grotesque note, which sometimes becomes superficial and crude. Some canvases indicate that Cipper was acquainted with the works of the Danish painter Eberhart Keilhau (Monsu Bernardo), who was active in Italy between 1651 and 1687.
Lit.: Settecento, Vol. I-II, Milano 1990 (biogr. Vittorio Caprara); Settecento lombardo, Editor Rossana Bossaglia & Valerio Rerraroli, Milano 1991, pp. 100-103 (biogr. Vittorio Caprara); Da Caravaggio, 1998, pp. 477-478 (text Gerlinde Gruber).