Salvator Rosa

Variant namesauktoriserad namnform: Salvator Rosa

DatesBiographical dates: 1615 - 1673 Dead: dead 1673 Born: born 1615

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BiographyBiography: Salvator Rosa was active not only as a painter and engraver, but also as a poet, satirist and actor. He was born in Naples, where he was trained to execute battle scenes, landscapes and genre pictures by his brother-in-law Francesco Fracanzano and by Aniello Falcone. Jusepe de Ribera’s realism profoundly influenced Rosa, and an apprenticeship with the Spanish painter is possible. Rich and expressive brushstrokes, dark tones and dramatic chiaroscuro distinguished Rosa’s technique, and according to the biographer Giovanni Battista Passeri he made oil sketches on paper directly from nature. In 1635 Rosa moved to Rome, where he initially enjoyed the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Maria Brancacci. There he came into contact with and was inspired by the works of the Bamboccianti, though he later rejected their low-life subjects. In the late 1630s Rosa’s style became more classical, inspired by the examples of Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain. Dating from 1640 are the pendants Landscape with Erminia and Harbour Scene (Galleria Estense, Modena), painted for Francesco I d’Este, Duke of Modena. During the 1640s Rosa was in Florence at the invitation of Cardinal Giovanni Carlo de’ Medici. Works from this period include some of his allegorical portraits, such as Lucrezia as Poetry (Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford), and his paintings with scenes of witchcraft, like the Scene of Witches (National Gallery, London). In 1649 Rosa returned to Rome, where he endeavoured to gain acceptance as a history painter, with works like the Death of Atilius Regulus from about 1652 (Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond). In the 1650s and early 1660s Rosa created a series of grand and rugged landscapes of the kind for which he is most celebrated, and increasingly his works became more expressive. The Finding of Moses (Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit) is from 1660.

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