Salvator Rosa - Italian baroque painter and pioneer of free art

Salvator Rosa is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating personalities in Italian baroque painting . His art was characterized by an independent spirit and a deep examination of the ancient philosophy , which he expressed in his works, but also in his satires and cantatas.

Exactly 350 years ago, he died in Rome and left the art world an unforgettable legacy. Deutschlandfunk reported (Audio available as a stream or download) .

Salvator Rosa was an Italian painter and known for his romantic landscapes and his daring and powerful painting style. His works of art are known for their lively colors and strong composition. In this article we will throw and learn an intensive view of life, work and oeuvre from Salvator Rosa and learn how we can take inspiration 350 years after his death.

Introduction

You have heard a lot about Salvator Rosa and his art - but have you already dealt with how and in what historical context this dazzling baroque painter created his works of art?

This article will accompany you on a journey through the art historical documentation of Salvator Rosa's masterpiece . We will deal with his personality, ideas and inspiration to look at his works under a well -informed look. We will also look at his techniques to see how he realized his works of art. Through a thorough analysis, we will research the entire spectrum of his works of art and pay homage to the incredible variety of his works.

I look forward to accompanying you on this art -historical journey!

Who was Salvator Rosa?

Salvator Rosa was an Italian painter, graphic artist, poet and actor of the 17th century ( baroque ). His name means 'Redeemer of the Rose' . He was born in Naples and was known for his landscape and history painting, which radiates a strong, dramatic atmosphere.

He was undoubtedly one of the most fascinating and complex personalities in the 17th century Italy. Its nature and lifestyle may well be described as unorthodox and extravagant. It was often taken in the late 18th and early 19th century by painters of the romantic movement as a hero and model. He was mainly a landscape painter , but the palette of his topics was unusually wide and included portraits and allegories. He also represented scenes of witchcraft that were influenced by Nordic prints.

Rosa's training took place in Naples, where he was born, and the main influences on his early work were Ribera and Aniello Falcone , a painter who is primarily known for his fight scenes. After visiting Rome in the late 1630s, Rosa worked in Florence and the surrounding area (1640-1649) before returning to Rome, where he finally died.

His exensitive scenes show his interest in the irrational and less conventional intellectual employment of his time. These also formed the background of his etchings and his satires.

His paintings are alive, full of strong emotions and feelings. His works of art are unique and have a distinctive style that differed from the prevailing Neapolitan mannerism . He was a master of contrasts by combining bright and dark colors, human and animal figures and landscapes. His characters are alive and sometimes bizarre, but always a bit humorous.

In the subsequent self -portrait from 1647, he shows himself how he labels a skull with the Greek words: "Behold, Whither, Eventual." (In German: "See, where finally." ). The cypress wreath is a symbol of grief, while on the table a book by the Roman Stoic Philosopher Seneca is located. According to the inscription, the picture was a gift to Rosa's friend Giovanni Battista Ricciardi (1624–1686), a brilliant literary from Pisa.

Childhood, youth and training

He was born in Arenella on the outskirts of Naples : either on June 20 or on July 21, 1615. His father, Vito Antonio de Rosa, a land vermeter, urged his son to become a lawyer or priest, and entered the monastery one of the somaschi fathers.

Nevertheless, Salvator showed a preference for the arts, so he secretly worked with his uncle maternal, Paolo Greco to learn something about painting, and soon switched to his own brother -in -law Francesco Francanzano, a student of Ribera, and then either to Aniello Falcone, with Domenico Gargiulo, or Ribera himself. Bands spent.

With seventeen he lost his father; His mother was penniless with at least five children, and Salvator found himself without financial support.

He continued his training at Falcone and helped him finish battle paintings In this studio, Lanfranco to have become aware of his work and advised him to move Rome

Return to Naples and turn to romantic landscapes

When he returned to Naples, he began to paint haunting landscapes that were overgrown with vegetation or rugged beaches, mountains and caves. Rosa - also Salvatoriello - was one of the first "romantic" landscapes with a special turn to picturesque, often turbulent and rugged scenes populated by shepherds, robbers, sailors and soldiers. These early landscapes were sold cheaply through private retailers. This type of paintings suited him particularly well.

Back in Rome - comedies, satire and hostility

He returned to Rome in 1638-39, where he was accommodated by Cardinal Francesco Maria Brancaccio, Bishop of Viterbo. For the Chiesa Santa Maria della Morte in Viterbo, Rosa painted his first and one of his few altarpieces with thomasung loyalty. While Rosa was a genius while painting, he followed a variety of arts: music, poetry, writing, erasing and acting.

In Rome he made friends with Pietro Testa and Claude Lorraine . During a Roman carnival game, he wrote and played in a masking game in which his figure hurried through Rome and distributed satirical recipes for the body's diseases and especially the mind. In the costume, he shouted against the Obsenry comedies were played in the Trastevere under the direction of Bernini

While his pieces were successful, this also brought him mighty enemies among patrons and artists , including Bernini himself. At the end of 1639 he had to move to Florence, where he stayed for 8 years. He was partly invited Giancarlo de Medici There, Rosa sponsored a combination of studio and salon of poets, dramatists and painters - the so -called Accademia dei percossi ("Academy of the fallen").

He presented his paintings of wild landscapes to the strict art milieu of Florence; Although he was influential, he gathered only a few true students. Another painter poet, Lorenzo Lippi , shared the hospitality of the cardinal and the same circle of friends with Rosa. Lippi encouraged him to continue with the poem Il Malmantile Racquistato . He was also well known to Ugo and Giulio Maffei and lived with them in Volterra, where he four satires : music, poetry, painting and war.

At about the same time he painted his own portrait, now in the Uffizi.

The uprising of Masaniello and the Compagnia della Morte

In 1646 he returned to Naples and seems to have sympathized uprising of Masaniello His actual participation in the revolt is doubtful. It is said that Rosa together with other painters - Coppola, Paolo Porpora, Domenico Gargiulo, Dal Po, Marzio Masturzo, the two Vaccari and Cadogna - all founded the Compagnia Della Morte , whose mission was to hunt and not even spare the one who was a religious Had searched for refuge.

During this time he painted a portrait of Masaniello - probably more of a memory than from life. When Don Juan de Austria approached, the blood -stained company dissolved.

Other stories tell that he fled from there and has joined the robbers in the Abruzzo. Although this incident cannot be easily associated with known data of his career, a famous romantic ballet about this story with the title Catarina in London was produced by choreographer Jules Perrot and the composer Cesare Pugni .

Almost in custody with La Fortuna

Finally he returned to Rome in 1649. Here he painted some important motifs that showed the unusual inclination of his mind when he passed from landscape painting to history painting ,

Democritus in the middle of graves , death of the Socrates , Regulus in the spiked barrel (these two are now in England), Justitia leaves the earth and La Fortuna . This last satirical work triggered a storm of the controversy. Rosa, trying to reconcile, published a description of its meaning. Nevertheless, he was almost arrested. At that time, Rosa wrote his satire called Babylon , by which Rome was meant, of course.

There was a lot more hostility against him. The accusation was that his published satires were not his own, but stolen. Rosa indignantly rejected the allegations, although it was true that his satires treated classic names, allusions and anecdotes so extensively and with falsified content.

To this day, experts are at a loss to determine whether Salvatoriello might have soaked his spirit with a variety of semi -learned details during this time. It may be legitimate to assume that literary friends in Florence and Volterra taught him about the theme of his satires. The compositions nevertheless remained strict and completely his own. In order to refute his critics, he now wrote the last part of the series entitled Neid .

The pictures of his last years included the much admired battle image and Saul and the witch of Endor (the latter maybe even his very last work).

While he was busy with a series of satirical portraits, Rosa was affected by water addiction. He died half a year later. In his last moments he married a florentine named Lucrezia, who gave birth to two sons, one of whom survived. The time of his life uncomfortable and restless baroque painters is buried in the Chiesa degli Angeli , where a portrait is set up by him. Salvator Rosa had successfully earned a good fortune after the economic struggle for survival of his early youth.

What kind of art did he create?

Salvator Rosa was a master of art and an artist that should not be forgotten. He has created many impressive and unique paintings and drawings that reflect his artistry and talent.

His works are remarkable due to their diverse motifs, which he has often taken from nature and mythology, and his artistic techniques as well as the compositions and color applications.

His paintings are famous for their real -life colors, which he has often combined with his unusual, often dark compositions. He was also known for his landscape paintings, which he often used as a background for his mythological scenes. His landscape paintings show romantic and realistic impressions of the landscape, which he collected on his travels to Italy.

He also created significant etchings with a very popular and influential series of small soldier prints and a number of larger and very ambitious subjects.

Rosa was undeniable in this tendency towards romantic and picturesque. It is an open question of how influential his work was in the following decades or in the following centuries. Wittkower rightly finds that it is his landscapes, not his great historical or religious dramas, in which Rosa really made a new spark in the baroque art scene glow.

He may have dismissed them than frivolous cappricci compared to his other topics, but these academically conventional screens often reinstated his rebellious streak.

Claude Lorraine and Paul Brill in landscapes and created brooding, melancholic fantasy images that were flooded by ruins and robbers. The contrasts between the artists of his time are illustrated by the lines of poetry that were written in 1748:

What'er Lorraine Light Touched with Softening Hue/ Or Savage Rosa Dashed, Or Learned Poussin Drew

It significantly influenced the landscape style of Gaspar Dughet .

At a time when artists were often severely restricted and metered by patrons, Rosa had a brave streak to independence , which celebrated the special role of the artist. Its wealth should exist in things of the mind and to be satisfied with the sipping, while others fully stuffed.

He declined to paint on behalf of or to agree on a price beforehand, and selected his motifs himself. He painted to be carried away by enthusiasm and only use his brushes if he felt delighted. This stormy spirit became the darling of the British romantics.

What are his best known works?

Salvator Rosa has numerous important paintings , including:

• • Heroic Battle , oil on canvas, between 1652 and 1664, 351 × 214 cm, Louvre Museum, Paris
  • Philosophy (approx. 1645), self -portrait, 94 x 116.3 cm, National Gallery , London
  • The doubts of St. Thomas , Retabel from 1638, Museo Municipal di Viterbo
  • Portrait of the Lucrezia (his wife) , around 1650, Palazzo Barberini, Rome
  • Pushing democrit (democritus in meditation) , 1651, Statens Museum for Art, Copenhagen
  • Humana Fragilitas , 1656, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
  • La Fortuna , 1659, J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu
  • Saul and the witch of Endor , 1668, Musée du Louvre, Paris
  • Jason and the Dragon , 1668, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal
  • Landscape with Mercury and the lying lumberjack , between 1650 and 1654, 202.1 x 125.7 cm, National Gallery, London
  • Return of the Astraea , approx. 1640-1645, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
  • Marina del Porto , 1640, 399 x 233 cm, Galleria Palatina, Florence
  • Batalha Antiga (Ancient Battle) , 17th century, 129 x 94 cm, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (Mnba), Rio de Janeiro
  • A Coastal Landscape with Shipwrecks and Ruins , approx. 1673, 163.5 x 73.8 cm, private collection
  • Portrait of a man , 1640, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
  • Rock landscape with a hunter and warrior, approx. 1670, 192 x 142 cm, Louvre Museum, Paris
  • Hexensabbat , between 1635 and 1654, 73 x 87 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
  • Faun with grapes , 17th century, muzeum okręgowe w rzeszowie (Galeria Dąmbskich), Poland

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Each of these works of art is characterized by its unique and detailed scenes. Landscapes, mountains, waterfalls, coasts, battles, portraits, biblical and mythological portraits are the core topics of the Italian baroque painter.

  But not only the landscape, but also the figures he represented in his works were incredibly lively and impressive. These figures were often mythical beings, such as centaur, satyrs and even demons. His works testify to his talent, both as a painter and as a poet, to tell and visualize a story.

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  His drawings and prints are also remarkable, especially his "Capricci" series, which he created in the 17th century. Most of his works can be seen in museums today, and many of them are still in great demand today.

  Auctions and art auctions in recent years over the largest and oldest auction house in German -speaking countries - the Dorotheum in Vienna - achieved prices up to 127,000 euros for the Italian baroque painter Salvator Salvator Rosa.

  

   

• With his unique style, Salvator Rosa has left a lasting impression in Italian art history . His works of art are exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide and are viewed by many as masterpieces in art history.

Joachim Rodriguez y Romero

Owner and managing director of Kunstplaza. Publicist, editor and passionate blogger in the field of art, design and creativity since 2011. Successful conclusion in web design as part of a university degree (2008). Further development of creativity techniques through courses in free drawing, expression painting and theatre/acting. Profound knowledge of the art market through many years of journalistic research and numerous collaborations with actors/institutions from art and culture.

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