HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL

NOTICE

OF

SALVATOR ROSA.

Salvator Rosa, who was born in 1615, was the son of a surveyor of Renella, near Naples. His father placed him in a college, with the intention of having him educated for the law; but a decided taste and remarkable aptness for painting led young Salvator to design ships, sea-ports and landscapes without the aid of a master, and he was continually urging his father to let him learn drawing. Paul Greco, his uncle, gave him instructions and models in secret; and at length he was permitted to study under Francis Francanzano, his brother-in-law.

At the same time that he pursued his regular studies, Salvator Rosa, having no longer reason for concealment, daubed all the walls of his father's house, and yet he still found time to apply himself to music; but at the age of seventeen Rosa lost his father, and found himself without the means of subsistence. His brother-in-law, who was far from rich, could afford him very little assistance, and the young artist was reduced to the necessity of offering for sale in the public streets a few copies that he had taken. Lanfranc having discerned talent in these productions bougth some of them, for which he paid a higher price than he was asked. Francanzano, a pupil of Ribera, introduced Salvator Rosa to his master; by the manner in which he sung some arriettas, accompanying them with the lute, he acquired the friendship of that painter, and then it was that

he received those valuable lessons which enabled him subsequently to distinguish himself. But he had still some difficulty in finding employment, and was labouring at Rome for brokers, when one of his companions attached to the household of cardinal Brancacci, proposed to him to accompany his eminence to his palace at Viterbo. Rosa there found an opportunity of making himself known, and he executed for the church della Morte a large picture representing the Unbelief of St Thomas. Being connected in friendship with the poet Abati, he remained several years at Viterbo, and afterwards took leave of the cardinal and returned to his own country, where he was living at the time of the revolt of Mazaniello in 1646. The share he took in that event rendered him apprehensive of the resentment of the viceroy, and he retired to Rome which seemed best suited to him for a residence.

In that city he formed a connection with several young men, and divided his time between labour and pleasure, taking up alternately the lute, the pen and the pencil. He wrote verses, comedies and satires, and was one of the principal champions of the revels of the carnival. His fortune as well as his reputation increased, and prince Mathias de Médicis invited him to Florence, where he executed a great number of works for which he was amply paid, since durind a stay of not quite nine years at Florence he gained about 9000 crowns. On the other hand he was profuse in expenditure. His house was an academy of pleasure, at which banquets were given that displayed as much originality as his pictures. They usually consisted of dishes of a single kind; one day nothing was sent to table but roasts, and another, nothing but ragouts or pies..

Salvator Rosa went and passed some time at Volterra, Barbajano and Monteruosoli with the Maffei family. It was here that he composed most of his satires, which were printed and are much sought after, one upon music, and others upon poesy,

OF SALVATOR ROSA.

III

take leave of the court, set out for Rome, where he remained till his death, in 1673.

Salvator Rosa having received a regular education, which was very rare among artists at that period, he availed himself sometimes of his wit and humour to throw out satirical observations, and make others feel the ridiculousness of their proceedings. It is related that the Academy of St Luke, at Rome, having refused to admit among its members a painter, who at the same time practised surgery, Rosa said to them : You are very wrong not to receive him, for he might sometimes render you service by putting into joint the limbs of figures which are daily crippled here.

Accustomed to jest upon every subject, he even took occasion to be facetious when he was told that his past conduct ought to fill him with apprehension, and asserted that his name was a sure pledge of his salvation, as God could never suffer the devil to carry off a Saviour. He had long lived with a Florentine woman, by whom he had several children; her name was Lucretia, but her conduct was far from corresponding with her name. He was urged to marry this woman; but knowing her conduct and low birth, it gave him great pain to consent to such a marriage. His friends and his confessor, however, having united to persuade him, one of them said to him with frankness: Salvator, you must do this if you would go to paradise. Oh! replied he, if one cannot go to paradise without horns, it must certainly be done.

It is very singular to find that a man of so humourous a turn of mind in his poetical productions should have displayed so much harshness in his pictures. For his landscapes he chose none but wild sites, and painted nothing but barren deserts and gloomy rocks; he selected the most frightful views, and if they were not frightful, they became so by the manner in which he depicted them. Whilst we gaze with admiration at his picturesque landscapes, we never wish to take up our abode in such places; the sight of them reminds us of those lonely roads

far from every habitation, which we never take by night, along which we hurry by day, and where we meet with the unburied remains of banditti.

Salvator Rosa formed several pupils, none of whom acquired celebrity, not even his son Augustus Rosa. One hundred and forty five pictures painted by him in oils are known, and a catalogue of them may be seen in the work published in two octavo volumes by Lady Morgan. He also occupied himself with engraving, and we have by him eighty six etchings of delicate and spirited execution; indeed so delicate in his engraving that, on seeing his etchings, it is difficult to persuade oneself that the coulouring of the painter was of a gloomy and vigorous character.

The principal engravers who have laboured after his works are Goupy, Audran, Le Bas, Pond, Preisler, Earlom, Ravenet and Strange.