Salvator Rosa (1615 – 1673): Bandits, Wilderness and Magic
Dulwich Picture Gallery presents the first major UK Rosa
exhibition since 1973.
Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) was one of the
boldest and most powerfully inventive artists and personalities of
the Italian 17th century. He invented new types of painting:
allegorical pictures, distinguished by a haunting and melancholy
poetry; fanciful portraits of romantic and enigmatic figures;
macabre and horrific subjects; philosophical subjects, which bring
into painting some of the major philosophical and scientific
concerns of his age. His early works, particularly the landscapes,
are bright and rich in picturesque motifs - crumbling towers, boats
on the sea shore, colourful travellers crossing perilous bridges,
bandits lying in wait in rocky ravines. But he moved towards a
grander style, and his mature art is characterised by his
dazzlingly free technique, and by his rich chiaroscuro and dark but
strong colours which create a suggestive atmosphere. No other
artist has created windswept landscapes of such expressive and
emotional power, or figures of such dark and brooding intensity.
Rosa invented an emphasis on freedom and sincerity. He aimed to
intrigue powerful patrons by his mysterious and independent
personality. Unlike Caravaggio, Rosa was truly a rebel, radical,
anti-clerical, associated with libertine thought, and often in very
real danger from the Inquisition.