Salvator Rosa

The phalanx of authors and others who would like to identify the Italian painter, engraver, poet and stage actor Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) predominantly as a painter of murky, deserted, apocalyptic landscapes, and who deploy to this end the concept of the sublime, which had been endowed with a new meaning in the 18th century, began to dissipate in the latter third of the 20th century. The attempt to revisit the intentions of this 17th century artist faces considerable obstacles, however: the colour changes, which darkened many of his paintings and resulted from his use of the alla prima technique, supported the creation of wild escalating legends about Rosa and prompted the dramatic misjudgement of his work. When this development is unravelled on the basis of an interdisciplinary discourse, we encounter a defender of stoical thinking and exponent of maxims that are surprisingly contemporary in their relevance. Chapters: Rosa’s Paintings and the Processes of Ageing / Ut pictura poesis / Metamorphosis of the Metamorphoses in Paintings by Salvator Rosa / La temeraria face. Aspects of Prometheus (Tityos) Reception and Rosa’s Paintings on this Theme / Rosa on Stage / Appendices.