Salvatore Rosa. Self-portrait
The biography of the Italian artist Salvatore Rosa is very unusual. It seemed that fate had specially prepared unexpected adventures for him and endowed him with the character of a rebel, and this, in turn, could not help but affect his creative activity. He did not immediately become interested in painting; he sought himself in the spiritual, in music and acting. Rosa was born in Italy on June 20, 1615, at a time when progressive Baroque was developing in art and there was an intense struggle against mannerism.
The poor family of the future artist lived near Naples. The father, Antonio Vito de Rosa, was a simple land surveyor and in order for the boy to receive good education, gave his son to the college of the Jesuit congregation Somasca between the cities of Bergamo and Milan. While within the walls of the monastic Order, the boy Salvatoriello, accustomed to entertainment and games on fresh air, felt uncomfortable and bored. However, the knowledge that he received from spiritual mentors was useful to him in further creativity. Among the subjects Rose studied were: Italian literature, Holy Scripture, ancient history and naughty Latin. The college became Salvatore's father's only hope to give his son a good education and lift him out of poverty.
The desire to receive holy orders grew into cherished dream connect your life with art. Therefore, Rosa began to take music lessons, and only after that, painting. The young man's first teachers were Francanzone, his brother-in-law, and the great Ribera. In addition to lessons, Salvatore developed his talent by independently writing small sketches.
Painting young artist was distinguished by the realism and naturalness of not only the plots, but also the colors. His palette was dominated by ocher-brown colors and muted tones. The characters had moods and facial expressions that were understandable to the average person, without embellishment or grotesquery. The master even depicted his self-portrait (1640) “modestly” and “clearly,” following the direction of the Neapolitan school of painting.
As you know, Salvatore Rosa was a rebel and had a wayward character. The temperament of his nature set the tone for his works. The artist was especially good at paintings of battles and scenes with vagabonds and bandits. Moreover, both early and late works The painter had a leaden-red touch of ocher and the Caravadzhin technique of applying contrasting shades - a play of shadows and light (“Jason pacifying the dragon”, “The Choice of Diogenes”, “Alexander and Diogenes”).
Jason taming the dragon. 1665-70
Diogenes' choice. 1650
In 1636, the artist decided to become an actor, just at the time when all of Rome already knew about Salvatore as a talented artist. And here he succeeded. He revealed his face during the performance, tearing off the mask of Coviello, whom he played, and later founded his own theater near Port del Popolo. Being a constant fighter against the existing government, Rosa was persecuted and became an object of surveillance by hired killers scurrying around the theater. During this period, he wrote the famous painting “Allegory of Lies”, illustrating his own poem “I take off my blush and paints from my face.” The painting is painted in unusual dry tones with a “patina” of emerald paint.
An allegory of lies. 1640
A talented painter, poet and actor, Salvatore, had many friends in the world of art and literature. The name of the great artist is often mentioned in the works, diaries and letters of travelers. Fueled by her own restless character and good company, Rosa creates stories on various topics - diverse, different from each other. These are mythical and biblical subjects, landscapes (“Forest Landscape with Three Philosophers”) and portraits. The technique in which he writes is not particularly bright, but it gives peace and sets the right mood for the viewer.
Forest landscape with three philosophers.
Rose was motivated, among other things, to create romantic stories by her love for a woman. His beloved for many years There was Lucretia, who gave the artist two sons. Only before his death did Salvatore marry a woman, thereby fulfilling his duty on earth, giving continuation of the family and himself in his canvases.
Death overtook the master in March 1673 in Rome. The work of Salvatore Rosa became a school for future, no less eminent, artists.
ROSE, SALVATTOR (Rosa, Salvator) (1615–1673), Italian artist, actor, writerSelf-Portrait (Allegory of Silence)
National Gallery, London
As if warning, the artist looks at us over his shoulder with a sad and contemptuous expression on his face. In fact, the inscription on the sign he holds in his hands reads: “Be silent if what you want to say is not better than silence" The harsh meaning of this dark self-portrait is further enhanced by the artist's dark cloak and black hat, giving him an almost sinister appearance. It looms menacingly before us against the backdrop of a strange, horizonless sky. Rosa was strongly influenced by the harsh realism of Jusepe Ribera, who worked in Naples from 1616. Salvator Rosa (20.6.1615–15.3.1673) was born in the vicinity of Naples, in the village of Arenella. Rosa's father Vito Antonio was a builder or land surveyor, her mother Giulia Greco was the daughter of the artist Vito Greco and the sister of the painter Domenico Antonio Greco. Rosa was sent to the Jesuit college of the Somasca congregation in Naples, where he received a good liberal education, studying classical literature, logic, rhetoric, and history. From his youth he was interested in music, playing the harp, flute, guitar, and composing serenades. Salvator was actually self-taught, formed in the circle of masters of the Neapolitan school. At first he copied the works of Francesco Fracanzano, whose works were popular with customers and were even sent to the Spanish court. Then he studied in the workshop of Agnello Falcone, an excellent draftsman and battle painter.
Salvator Rosa developed in the Neapolitan environment not only as an artist, but also as a “freethinker.” The south of Italy was the birthplace of such outstanding personalities in the history of the country, like Giordano Bruno, Tommaso Campanella, Cesare Vanini. These brave men defended their people, suffering the oppression of foreigners, rebelled against the terror of the Inquisition during the period that intensified from the second half XVI century of the Counter-Reformation, dreamed of social equality of the people. Rosa's teachers, Agnello Falcone and Francesco Fracanzano, were among the followers of these “freethinkers”; both of them ended up in the ranks of the defenders of Tommaso Agnello, who led the uprising of the lower classes against the nobles (the trade and financial elite of the city) and the barons (large landowners). The heroes of Rosa's paintings will be the poor - fishermen, loaders, lazzaroni tramps, whom he saw hiding from the pursuit of the viceroy's troops, and sometimes engaging in battle with them and striking fear into the nobles with their unexpected attacks and robberies.
Forest landscape
One day, Giovanni Lanfranco noticed Rosa's paintings on display. famous master monumental baroque painting, who worked in Naples. He even bought several of his works. In 1635 Salvator Rosa left hometown and moved to Rome, where his eventful life began. From 1640 to 1649 he lived in Florence, and then throughout the subsequent period (1649–1673) in Rome.
In Rome, Rosa found a wealthy patron in the person of a certain Girolamo Mercuri, a Neapolitan, majordomo to Cardinal Brancacci of Viterbo. The Cardinal, noticing the artist's talent, took him from the house of Mercury. For the residence of the Archbishop of Viterbo, Rosa created an altarpiece in the Church of San Sisto.
Having left Rome for some time, Salvator Rosa nevertheless continued to exhibit his works at the Roman exhibition of members of the Virtuosi of the Pantheon congregation (created in 1543), held annually on August 29, in honor of the Day of St. John the Baptist (San Giovanni Decolato) in the courtyard of the Church of San Bartolomeo dei Padri Bergamaschi. In 1639, Rosa's painting Titius achieved great success at this exhibition. Much later, in the 1650s, Salvator Rosa would once again amaze the Roman public on the Feast of San Giovanni Decolato. His painting Fortuna (1658–1659) will become a scandalous sensation, for which they will try to bring the artist to trial by the Inquisition.
"Allegory of Fortune" ca. 1658-59
Getty Museum. Los Angeles Only the intervention of Cardinal Chigi will save him from prison. Rose depicted the goddess of Fate distributing coins, precious stones, books from a cornucopia, which go to pigs, a bull, a donkey, sheep, a ram (at her feet lies a palette, therefore, this is an allegory of a bad painter), and not to worthy people. Fortuna's face resembled a public woman, to whom a noble clergyman was attracted. This was a bold hint at the injustice of distributing honors to people who are unworthy, but who earn success through flattery, deceit, and sycophancy.
Rosa's landscapes and poems carry an echo of the Neapolitan poetic tradition; they seem a little rough compared to the melodic and sweet style of the Neapolitan poet, Rosa's contemporary J.B. Marino, who gained fame at European courts, or the landscapes of Nicolas Poussin with their ennobled and ideally calm nature. The imagery of Rosa’s poetry is far from the descriptions of the “gardens of bliss” in Marino’s lyrics. Also, the artist’s landscape painting, in which his rich imagination is subtly combined with field observations, gives rise to a completely different emotional feeling than the landscapes of Poussin’s Roman Campania. This is a special emotional feeling in XIX century will be called a “romantic” perception of nature.
The figures of wanderers or warriors among mountain gorges, travelers on the road, fishermen, loaders, card players on the seashore evoke associations in the canvases of Salvator Rosa not with literary images, as in the paintings of Claude Lorrain, who loved to place them on stage, among the scenes in the form of trees or architectural buildings, figures of characters from the works of Virgil, Ovid, from the Old Testament. Nature, extraordinary and mysterious, always dominates Rose’s landscapes.
An Angel appears to Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert.
The success of his landscapes with his clients, apparently, was partly a burden for Salvator Rosa. In the satire “Painting” he wrote with sarcasm: “With grave amazement... I reflect on the fact that almost every artist loses his talent when he begins to gain success, because he sees how he is honored and the things he painted easily find a place for themselves... Therefore, he no longer bothers himself with excessive work and, completely lazy, happily turns into a donkey.” However, the artist became the creator of true masterpieces landscape painting XVII century. One of his most poetic early landscapes is the canvas “Old Bridge” (c. 1640).
"Landscape with a Destroyed Bridge" ca. 1640.
Oil on canvas 106X127 cm.
Palazzo Pitti, Florence.
In Rome, Salvator Rosa turned to painting battle scenes.
The battle of Christians with the Turks. 1650s In his large panoramic compositions, he placed the scene of a frantic battle of warriors in the foreground, and the background consisted of mountains, ruins of temples, towers, and palaces. In the satire “War” (1647), the artist expressed his attitude to the uprising: “Look at the high courage with which the fisherman, despicable, barefoot, a worm, received so many rights in one day! Look at this high soul in the lowly one, who, in order to save his homeland... plunged the highest heads into nothing... Aren't ancient values renewed if today the despised fisherman gives an example to the kings..." Drawings by Salvator Rosa depicting figures of horsemen, fragments have been preserved battle scenes. The corpus of his drawings as a whole is not very large, although he is considered a prolific draftsman among the Baroque masters.
Fragment of an engraving from the Rose collection
His drawings include “The Rider on a Fallen Horse”, “Saint George Slaying the Dragon”, and the engraving “Jason and the Dragon” (made for the canvas of the same name based on a scene from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”). And sometimes the images of his drawings are full of lyricism (“Apollo and Daphne”), keen observation (“Lute Player under a Tree”, “Two Figures in a Landscape”, “Fisherman”).
Allegory of lies
Two outstanding works by Salvator Rosa were created in Florence - the already mentioned “Self-Portrait” (circa 1648) and Allegory of Lies (1640s). They allow us to judge his attitude in the period 1640–1649, his difficult relationship with a world full of theatrical props and not sincerity. Rose often painted his reflection in the mirror. In the painting “Allegory of Lies” the artist looks older than in the London “Self-Portrait”.
“Self-portrait” Oil on canvas, 99 x 79 cm.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York. In Florence it was written " Portrait of a man"(1640s). Apparently this is also a self-portrait, in which Rosa depicted himself in the costume of Pascariello, one of his favorite commedia dell'arte characters. Researchers of his work also see similarities with the artist in the image of the ancient mathematician, designer and philosopher Arkita, who is depicted holding a mechanical dove that he designed (“Arkita, philosopher from Tarentum”).
Among the portraits of Salvator Rosa, it is worth noting the “Portrait of a Man” (1640s), which depicts a low-class man, a tramp or a peasant.
"Portrait of a Man" 1640s
Oil on canvas, 78 x 65 cm.
State Hermitage Museum. Saint Petersburg. With his rags and a bandage on his head, he resembles the robbers, whose figures the artist liked to introduce into his landscapes (“Robbers in the Cave”). Convincingly conveyed female character and in “Portrait of Lucretia,” the artist’s beloved. Rosa was close to the Florentine Lucrezia until the end of his days, calling her very respectfully “Signora Lucrezia” in his letters.
Lukreciya.
During his stay in Florence, and then in Rome, Rosa created works in the genre of the so-called “diableries” or “stregonerie” (from Italian - stregonerie), that is, scenes of witchcraft and devilry.
"Demons and the Hermit."
Witches at their Incantations ("Sabbath of Witches") Appeal to similar subjects depicting witches, tools of witchcraft (old books, astronomical instruments, symbolic objects) was widespread in European painting of the 17th century ("Human frailty", 1657; "Self-portrait with a skull , 1656–1675). In the first painting, a seated woman with a child on her lap is an allegory of motherhood. The child writes on a scroll, but his pen is guided by the hand of death, which is personified by a winged, creepy skeleton.
“Human fragility” Oil on canvas, 199 x 134 cm.
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Herma, crowned with a wreath of cypress branches (the tree of cemeteries and sorrow), an obelisk (symbol of memory), a crystal sphere on which a woman sits (symbol of the fate of life), an owl (bird of the night), another baby standing in a cradle, lighting the end of the yarn at the tip a spinning wheel (a symbol of the frailty of life, already predetermined for a baby in the cradle), two knives (an emblem of forced separation), an inscription on a scroll ("conception is a sin, birth is torment, life is tedious work, death is a fatal inevitability") from a famous poem, lines which in the canzone he sent to the artist J.B. Ricciardi; Rose's signature on the blade of the knife (an allegory of separation from his early deceased son) - this entire complex set of symbols reveals the deep tragedy of his experiences.
"Democritus in Meditation" c. 1650
Oil on canvas, 344 x 214 cm.
State Museum arts Copenhagen
"Seascape with Towers" after 1645
Oil on canvas, 102 x 127 cm.
Palatine Gallery (Palazzo Pitti), Florence.
In Florence, Salvator Rosa continues to create battle scenes and paint landscapes (Landscape with Mercury and a Woodcutter, ca. 1650; “Landscape with Apollo and the Sibyl of Cumae” (1650s), “Landscape with the Sermon of John the Baptist,” 1660s).
John the baptist preaching in the wilderness.
At the end of the 1640s and in the 1650s, classicist tendencies intensified in the work of Salvator Rosa. He is trying to master the techniques of “high style” painting, turning to subjects from ancient history and mythology, to biblical themes. However, it is difficult for the artist to achieve a rejection of the genre interpretation of staffage, so the didactics with which the moral meaning of the plots is presented sometimes looks rude. This applies to such paintings as “The Calling of Cincinnatus”, “Grove of Philosophers” (Landscape with Three Philosophers),
The philosophers wood “Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness,” written before moving to Rome. Turning to the historical genre, to the stylistics of the “high style” was contrary to the artist’s talent, so he was not always able to achieve the desired success and recognition along this path.
In 1660 Salvator Rosa moved to Rome.
More and more often, Salvator Rosa turns to stories from ancient history and mythology, carrying ethical and moral meaning (“Prodigal Son” and “Astraea leaves the earth”, 1660s). The ideas of Stoicism are especially clearly expressed in the latter. The heroes of Rose's works are Diogenes, the Greek Cynic philosopher; Saint Paul the Eremite, hermit, Christian saint, the first of the hermits of Egypt to choose a solitary life for the sake of reflection; Democritus, the greatest ancient logician, predecessor of Aristotle.
Odysseus and Nausicaa
Democritus and Protagoras Rosa tries to philosophically comprehend history in the paintings “The Death of Atilius Regulus” and “The Conspiracy of Catiline”, and the engravings “Belisarius” and “Laomidont”. He turns to images legendary history(“Saul at the Witch of Endor”), creates his series of etchings “Capricci” (1656) and, finally, writes his famous canvas “Prometheus”, full of deep thoughts about the retribution for virtue and the injustice of the world.
Prometheus The painting “The Dream of Aeneas” is closely related to Roman themes.
"The Dream of Aeneas" New York. Metropolitan. Rose puts a philosophical moralistic meaning into the historical genre painting “Alexander the Great and Diogenes.” The poor Stoic philosopher who dared to say to the greatest of the generals: “Stand back and don’t block the sun for me!” looks like an eccentric old man who entered into a conversation with a powerful warrior.
"The Prodigal Son" 1651-55
Oil on canvas, 254 x 201 cm.
State Hermitage Museum. Saint Petersburg.
The canvas The Prodigal Son is one of the artist’s masterpieces. In this work, Salvator Rosa appears as one of the most obvious and original heirs of Caravaggism, which during this period was already gradually losing its position.
IN later years Salvator Rosa created many drawings in his life. Among them are caricatures of people who visited his house, romanticized images of himself, influxes of fantasy - reproductions of figures from the Capricci series, often transferred to paintings. After 1664, Rosa no longer turned to engraving due to his sharply deteriorating eyesight.
In 1668, at the next exhibition on the day of San Giovanni Decolato, Salvator Rosa exhibited the painting The Spirit of Samuel, called to Saul by the Sorceress of Endor. Dramatic plot in the painting of the “high” genre, it acquired a satirical, almost farcical interpretation in the artist’s interpretation.
“The appearance of the shadow of the prophet Samuel to King Saul” 1668
Oil on canvas, 275 x 191 cm.
Louvre. Paris. Salvatore Rosa died on March 15, 1673 in Rome from dropsy. Before his death, the artist married his mistress Lucretia, with whom he lived for many years and raised two sons.
"Lucretia as poetry" 1640-1641
Oil on canvas 1,040 x 910 cm.
Wadsworth Atheneum Art Museum. HartfordMajor Italian Baroque master Salvator Rosa had a significant influence on the development Italian painting. Under the influence of his art, the talent of Magnasco, Ricci and a number of other masters was formed. The art of Salvatore Rosa also inspired painters romantic era.
"Pythagoras and the Fisherman" 1662
Oil on canvas, 132 x 188 cm.
National Museum. Berlin
"Rocky landscape with hunter and warrior" c. 1670
Oil on canvas, 142 x 192 cm.
Louvre. Paris
Landscape with Mercury and the Dishonest Woodman
86.
"Heroic Battle" 1652-64
Oil on canvas, 214 x 351 cm.
Louvre. Paris
An angel leads St. Peter out
Diogenes throwing away his drinking cup.1651
“Jason bewitches the dragon” version 2
"Evening Landscape" 1640-43
Oil on canvas, 99 x 151 cm.
Private collection
"River Landscape with Apollo and Sibyl" c. 1655
Oil on canvas, 174 x 259 cm.
Royal collection. Windsor
"Jason Bewitches the Dragon" ca. 1665-1670
Museum fine arts. Montreal
“Warrior” Oil on canvas
University Gallery, Siena
“Portrait of a Philosopher” Oil on canvas, 119 x 93 cm.
Private collection
"Pythagoras emerges from the underworld" 1662
Kimbel Art Museum, Texas Fort Worth
"Diogenes Casting away his Cup" 1650s
Oil on canvas, 219 x 148 cm.
Private collection
Heraclitus and Democritus
Self-portrait of Salvator Rosa
"Jason Bewitches the Dragon"
Democritus
Being a master of the 17th century, Salvator Rosa in his work was able to deeply reveal one of the main features of Baroque aesthetics - the synthesis of the tragic and the comic. In satires and on canvases, he spoke about the picture of the true “theater of life” of his era, made readers and spectators feel the depth of his dramatic gift and the inherent subtle irony in assessing the imperfections of life.
Based on the book by E.D. Fedotova “Salvator Rosa” (series “Masters of Painting. Foreign artists") http://www.art-catalog.ru/article.php?id_article=568
Salvator Rosa
http://art-line.co.ua/baroque/italian_baroque/
In 1615, a boy was born in the house of the surveyor and architect Vitantonio Rosa in the small town of Arenella near Naples. They named him Salvator. From the windows of the dilapidated Casaccio estate there was a wonderful view of Naples and the Vesuvius volcano. Around the village there were many places that enchanted with their beauty: the high rock of San Elmo, the fortress of Borgo di Arenella, built during the reign of Charles V, the hills of Vomero and Posilipo, the island of Capri, the coast of the Gulf of Naples with clear blue waters. All these images will later be fully reflected in the paintings of Salvator Rosa. WITH early years The future artist tried to capture the pictures of nature that excited him on small pieces of paper.
Noticing in their son a desire for knowledge, science and art, his parents decided to enroll him in the Jesuit College of the Somasca Congregation, located in Naples. There Salvator Rosa received a varied education: he studied classical literature, studied grammar, rhetoric, logic. Among other things, I received music education, learned to play the harp, flute, guitar and even tried to compose small musical works(the serenades-doncellas written by him are known). Some serenades were so popular among the Neapolitans that they sang them day and night under the windows of their lovers.
After some time, Salvator Rosa leaves the college and returns to his hometown of Arenella, where he meets the local artist Francesco Fracanzano, a former student of the extremely popular Spanish master of painting Jusepe Ribera in those days. Having seen Francesco’s paintings, Salvator makes several copies of them, for which he deserves praise from Fracanzano, who was able to discern the talent of a real artist in the young man and advised him to take up painting seriously.
From now on, Rosa draws a lot. In search of new images, he goes traveling through the Abruzzo mountains. At this time, landscapes appear depicting the valleys of Monte Sarkio with an extinct volcano, the grottoes of Palignano, the caves of Otranto, as well as the ruins of the ancient cities of Canusia and Brundisia, the ruins of the arch and amphitheater of Benevento.
There, in the Abruzzi Mountains and Calabria, the young artist met vagabond robbers, among whom were those who had been expelled from the society of “respectable” people for their freedom-loving, bold thoughts. The appearance of these bandits shocked Salvator so much that he decided to capture them in his album. Their images were then used in the later compositions of the already mature master (here it is appropriate to recall the engraving from the Capricci suite, which shows the capture of a young man by robbers led by the chieftain), and were also reflected in paintings depicting battle scenes.
The trip was fruitful and significant for the development of the young painter’s landscape creativity. During his travels, he made many sketches of views of Italian nature.
Then transferred to paintings, these landscapes are unusually realistic, alive, and natural. It seems as if nature only fell asleep for a moment. It seems that in a second everything will come to life, a light breeze will blow, the trees will sway, the birds will chirp. In the landscapes of the Rose lies enormous strength, special expression. The figures of people and buildings, being part of a single whole, harmoniously combine with pictures of nature.
Salvator Rosa's first exhibition took place in Naples. One of those who noticed and appreciated the work of the young artist was the famous master monumental painting Giovanni Lanfranco, who bought several landscapes for himself at the exhibition.
In the mid-30s. XVII century Salvator Rosa moves to Rome, the capital of world fine art, where Baroque and Classicism reign. It was in Rome that Rosa became acquainted with the work of such major masters of painting as Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Claude Lorrain. Their style of writing largely influenced the development of Rosa’s creative method and artistic and visual technique. This is most noticeable in paintings with seascapes. Thus, “Seaport” was written in the best traditions of C. Lorrain. However, the young artist goes further than the teacher. His landscape is natural and concrete: the ideal, rather even abstract, images of Lorrain are replaced here by the figures of ordinary fishermen from Naples.
A few months later, Rosa, seriously ill, leaves the lush and beautiful capital of Italy. He returned back only in 1639. In the summer of this year, a carnival was held in Rome, at which Rosa acted as a traveling actor under the guise of Coviello (a plebeian who had not accepted his fate). And if other Coviello tried their best to be as much like real peasants as possible, then Rosa played his mask perfectly, composing an entire performance and showing him singing and playing the guitar, cheerful, not discouraged under any circumstances and life’s adversities young man. The carnival action took place in Piazza Navona. Salvator Rosa with a small group of actors rode out in a cart richly decorated with flowers and green branches. Rose's success was enormous. After the carnival ended, everyone took off their masks. Imagine the surprise of those around him when it was discovered that under the guise of a peasant was none other than Salvator Rosa.
After this, Rosa decided to take up acting. Not far from Porta del Popolo, in one of the empty villas, he opens his own theater. The content of the plays staged under the direction of Rosa is not known to art critics and historians. However, there are facts that speak for themselves: after the premiere of the play, in which the actors ridiculed the court theater under the direction of the then famous architect and sculptor Lorenzo Bernini, someone hired assassins for Rosa. They lay in wait for him near his house. Fortunately, the assassination attempt did not take place - the young man survived. However, due to these circumstances, he was forced to leave Rome again.
Having responded to the invitation of Cardinal Giovanni Carlo Medici, Rosa goes to Florence. Here the artist creates the famous “Self-Portrait”.
The canvas is distinguished by its unique execution. The young man presented in the portrait seems somewhat angular. However, one senses ebullient energy, extraordinary willpower and determination in him. In the painting, a young man leans on a board with an inscription in Latin: “Avt tace, Avt Loqver meliora silentio” (“Either be silent, or say what is better than silence”). This inscription sounds like the through-thought of the entire work of art and at the same time as the credo of the young man depicted on the canvas (and therefore the painter himself).
The artist masterfully masters the play of light and shadow. The expressiveness of the image is achieved precisely by the shadow effect, which sharply and sometimes even unexpectedly turns into light spots.
It is no coincidence that the figure of a young man is located against the background of the evening sky: the image of a proud, independent young man in dark clothes stands out against a light background, and therefore becomes closer and more understandable to the viewer.
Rosa’s famous satires were created in the same vein, among which a special place is occupied by “Poetry”, “Music”, “Envy”, “War”, “Painting”, which became a kind of anthem of the young writer and artist. Here the author says that painters, being servants of one of the sisters of art - artistic and visual creativity, should be well versed in history, ethnography, and exact sciences. Rose's style in poetry, as well as in painting, manifested itself in its entirety. His poems are energetic, impetuous, emotional and in some places too rude and harsh. They are a kind of opposition to the cutesy and artificially theatrical manner of constructing and sounding poetic forms that developed at that time in literature.
Salvator Rosa remained in Florence until 1654. His house, according to the recollections of his contemporaries, was the place where the most famous people: poet R. Giambatisti, painter and writer F. Baldinucci, scientist E. Torricelli, professor at the University of Pisa G. B. Ricciardi.
One of the central ideas in Baroque art was “to teach the viewer or reader unobtrusively, to teach through beauty.” Following this unspoken rule, artists created canvases, when looking at which the viewer had very specific associations that evoked images literary heroes. And vice versa, according to the writers of the Baroque period, a poetic work should be such that, after reading it, picturesque, bright and colorful pictures appear before the reader’s eyes.
The work of Salvator Rosa is the initial stage of the formation and development of a new pictorial form - the landscape painting. Works constructed in this way combine elements that actually exist in everyday life and those that are fictional.
In 1649, Salvator Rosa left Florence and went to Rome, where he settled on Monte Pincio, located in Piazza della Trinita del Monte. From the windows of the house there was a wonderful view of St. Peter's Cathedral and the Quirinal Hill. Next door to Rose lived the famous artists of those days, Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, and not far from the painter’s house was the Villa Medici.
Since the appearance of Salvator Rosa in Florence, the residents of Monte Pincio Street have been divided into two camps. One group was led by an ascetic-looking young man, Nicolas Poussin. Another one, in which there were famous musicians, singers and poets, led by Rose.
Salvator Rosa turned one of the rooms of his house into a workshop. Its walls were decorated with the artist’s original works. The master constantly worked, creating canvases of various content: religious, mythological and historical topics. His credo was constant work, improvement of technology. He told everyone that " star fever“(as our contemporaries would say now) can destroy even the strongest and brightest talent. Therefore, even after fame and universal recognition have come to the master, it is necessary to continue to work on oneself and one’s works.
IN late period Salvator Rosa's creative work often turns to biblical and ancient subjects. For the artist here it turns out to be most important to convey the very spirit of that time and its features. The master is trying, as it were, to revive, to bring back to life everything that existed long before those whose lives served as the source of fabulously beautiful and instructive stories.
There are enough of them famous paintings“Justice Descending to the Shepherds” (1651), “Odysseus and Nausicaa”, “Democritus and Protagoras” (1664), “The Prodigal Son”.
The painting “Justice Descending to the Shepherds” was painted based on the famous plot of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”. On the canvas, the viewer sees the goddess Justice, giving the shepherds a sword and scales of justice. The main idea of the painting can be defined as follows: true justice is possible only among ordinary people.
“Odysseus and Nausicaa”, “Democritus and Protagoras” were written by Salvator Rosa after arriving from Venice, where he became acquainted with the paintings of Venetian painters (including Paolo Veronese, in whose best traditions the above works were created).
In the film “The Prodigal Son,” the plot, in comparison with the Gospel parable, turns out to be somewhat simplified and mundane. Thus, the hero is presented as a simple Neapolitan peasant. There is no lush surrounding here either: prodigal son turns to God surrounded by rams and cows. The huge size of the canvas depicting a slightly modified scene evokes a feeling of mockery and sarcasm about what is considered good taste in society. Rose appears here as a continuer of the ideas of realism, the formation of which begins with the work of Michelangelo da Caravaggio.
In 1656, Salvator Rosa began work on a cycle consisting of 72 engravings, called “Capricci”. The images depicted on these sheets are peasants, robbers, tramps, soldiers. Some details of the engravings are characteristic of Rosa's early work. This suggests that, quite possibly, the cycle included sketches made in childhood, as well as during a trip to the Abruzzi Mountains and Calabria.
The great master of painting, poet, wonderful actor and director of dramatic performances passed away in 1673.
The name of Rose is surrounded by legends. He was a passionate and multi-talented person who was interested not only in painting and engraving, but also in poetry, music, singing, and dramatic art. In his poetic works, he expressed reflections on life, a heightened attitude to success and recognition, to relationships with noble customers, to creative independence, which he valued above all else. The courage of Rosa's views is evidenced by the fact that his satires were later banned by Vatican censorship. Equally bright and bold for the era was Rosa’s painting, in which he expressed philosophical, moralizing ideas. The words from his satire “Painting”: “Princes, I feel like I’m tempted to shout, although... with you I need to be silent and pretend,” sound defiantly addressed to representatives of the highest circles, towards whom the artist, who always defended his dignity, behaved quite unceremoniously: he set high prices, refused to give away the work, or, on the contrary, generously donated it. Because of its mocking satires and sharp allegorical paintings Rose had many ill-wishers.
He responded to the refusal to accept him as a member of the Roman Academy of St. Luke with the satire “Envy,” and in the canvas “Fortune” (1658-1659, London, Marlborough Gallery) he depicted the gifts of fate pouring out of a cornucopia, which do not go to those who receive them. worthy, but to animals, in the images of which many influential people recognized themselves. Constant harsh criticism and even the attention of the Inquisition accompanied him throughout his life.
Rosa’s paintings revealed his demanding attitude to life, enormous temperament and love of life. He was born in the small village of Arenella near Naples. At the Jesuit college he studied Latin, history, ancient and Italian literature. He studied painting with his uncle A.D. Greco and some time in Ribera's workshop. From the Spanish follower of Caravaggio, he inherited a broad style of painting with strong contrasts of light and shadow, a predilection for the rough folk type in canvases on religious, mythological and historical subjects, in scenes of “witchcraft” and images of robbers and vagabonds, which sounded like a challenge to high official art .
There is information that independent work Rosa began by painting small landscapes, which he painted while wandering through the mountains or sailing in fishing boats along the shores of the Gulf of Naples. He constantly included these motifs in his works. Landscapes and marinas of Rose convey characteristic features Neapolitan nature: mountains, rocky shores, endless sea space with sailboats, silhouettes of towers and lighthouses, figures of sailors and fishermen. The artist gives it a romanticized appearance, introducing images of mysterious travelers, tramps, soldiers wrapped in cloaks, depicting old buildings, mountain streams, dry trees, sharp ledges of rocks, caves.
At times, as if trying to correlate his art with the “high” classicist style, he introduces ennobled mythological staffage into his paintings, painting in a calm painterly manner with gradual transitions of light and shadow (“Landscape with Apollo and the Sibyl of Cumae,” London, Wallace Collection). Expressing his philosophical reflections, Rose often introduces figures of ancient sages into landscapes: in the painting “The Grove of the Philosophers” (Florence, Pitti Gallery), his favorite character Diogenes points to a boy drinking water from a stream, calling for freedom and unity with nature.
In Rome, where the artist, who was striving for fame, arrived around 1630, he received an order from Cardinal Brancacci, but the completed work was not successful. But his name became known because of the satire written about the famous Roman sculptor and architect L. Bernini. In response, Bernini's friends staged a play in which Rosa was portrayed as an upstart and a tramp. The artist was saved from scandal by an invitation to serve in Florence with the future Cardinal J.K. Medici.
From 1640, Rosa spent about ten years in Tuscany. Here he acquired influential friends and patrons. The artist jokingly called the circle of educated people who visited his house “The Academy of the Bruised.” He was the soul of the conversations and plays that were composed and acted out under the guise of Pascariello. In the painting “Portrait of a Man” (1640s, St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum), Rosa may have depicted himself in the image of Pascariello. This is an image of a living, ironic, smart person just like the artist was. The “Self-Portrait” (c. 1645, London, National Gallery) also dates back to the period of his stay in Florence. Rose painted himself with a cloak thrown over his shoulder, with a face full of bitterness and anger. The Latin inscription reads: “Either be silent, or say what is better than silence.” Apparently, it expresses the mood of those years, which satires also convey.
During the Florentine period, scenes of “battles” were also executed (Battle of Christians with the Turks, ca. 1640, Florence, Pitti Gallery), which the artist often turned to painting. These baroque compositions convey not a specific event, but the dynamics and pathos of the struggle. The figures of warriors and horses are merged into large moving masses. A fierce battle takes place against the backdrop of a landscape of imaginary cities with fortress towers. The light-air atmosphere was painted with magnificent skill, giving unity to the plans and softness of transitions of light and shadow, which emphasize the clarity of plastic forms. The expressiveness of these large canvases is also given by the tonal developments of a few, but rich colors. The “battles” do not depict real historical events, but they carry an echo of an era full of violence, bloodshed, and atrocities. “It is necessary to stock up on boots, because everything is flooded with evil, there is blood everywhere...” the artist wrote in the satire War.
Conspiracies and uprisings of the poor in Naples during the time of Rosa were living history. The mountains were flooded with fugitive rebels, robbers, ready to support the rebellion against the Spaniards who dominated the Kingdom of Naples. Rosa introduced images of these people into his art; the same type is found in a series of etchings by the artist Capricci. Perhaps in his youth, traveling in the mountains, he met these people. In the canvas “Soldiers Playing Dice” (1650s, Moscow, State Museum fine arts them. A.S. Pushkin) the figures are inscribed in the landscape, with mountains or swirling clouds, the gestures are mysterious and theatrical, and the scenes look at the same time very lifelike and fantastic, full of romantic elation.
Even in his youth, the artist was attracted to the depiction of scenes of witchcraft, the origins of which should be sought not so much in the street mysteries and carnival fortune-telling that have been widespread since the Middle Ages, but in the interest in the folk type associated with these phenomena. Such colorful types attracted many masters who inherited this tradition from Caravaggio. Motive old scenes Rose used witchcraft in the paintings of the “high” historical genre. The painting “Saul at the Sorceress of Endor” (Louvre) depicts the frightened King Saul, who fell at the feet of the menacing prophet Samuel, wrapped in a shroud, summoned from the grave by the sorceress. The skeleton ominously froze in eerie laughter - an image of imminent frightening death. Bible story Rose interprets with grotesque, depriving historical painting pathos of “high style”. It mocks the superstitions and prejudices of his time, a bold challenge to official circles.
Salvator Rosa's influence on modern times italian art was very significant. He had many followers who imitated his style. Many European masters of romanticism also saw their predecessor in Rose.
Elena Fedotova
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