Beskrivning: Se beskrivning i den engelska versionen.

Catalogue raisonné: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 82:

FORMER INV. NOS.: 314 (M. 1796–97); 156 (M. 1798); 325
(M. 1804); KM 54.

TECHNICAL NOTES: Inscriptions: on back: “325”; paper labels
“KM 54”; “(Ko)fr: Malmö”; “Salv. Rosa. Argo, e Mercurio. Mart. 325”;
“KM 54 Ny No 48 Salvator Rosa Mercurius som söfver Argus”; on
front, paper label “National Museum No 54.” The support consists
of a single piece of thin, densely woven, plain-weave linen fabric.
The painting is lined with glue and mounted with staples on a
strainer. This was probably done in Italy prior to shipping to Sweden.
The ground is white and covers the whole support. There are
many paint losses and a tendency to flaking. There are no retouches
and the varnish is partly broken down. In the KM inventory of
1861 the painting is described as “somewhat damaged”.

PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sander 1872–76, III, p. 123, no. 325.

This painting is listed under “Salvator. Rosa.
Manière” in Fredenheim’s catalogue.¹ It was
weeded out in the 1860s and only recently received
its NM inventory number.

The painting is a smaller copy of Rosa’s
painting of Mercury and Argus, which in turn is
known in two almost identical works, one in a
private collection in Rome and the other in the
Nationalmuseum (NM 159, cat. no. 81).² The
present work is about half the size of these paintings,
and has a somewhat crude finish. Although
it is quite faithful to the original in terms of
colour and the interplay of light and shadow, it is
all very summarily executed. The painting is in
all probability a later copy executed specifically
for the Roman art collectors’ market in the 18th
century. It must certainly have entered Martelli’s
collection before he managed to acquire NM 159.
dp

1 NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, Catalogue du Cabinet
de Martelli (à Rome).
2 Salerno 1975, p. 101, cat. no. 204; Cassini 2008, pp. 160–161,
cat. no. 37. [End]

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