Salvator Rosa

Baroque painter Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) pioneered the wild, untamed landscape that later inspired Romanticism. Born on the outskirts of Naples, he trained with his brother-in-law Francesco Fracanzano and absorbed influences from Ribera's dramatic chiaroscuro. His father wanted him to become a lawyer or priest, but Rosa showed talent for painting, poetry, music, and acting. A romantic legend, likely apocryphal, claimed he lived among bandits in the Abruzzi mountains.

Rosa's landscapes feature jagged rocks, shattered trees, and wild storms populated by bandits, soldiers, and hermits. This was the opposite of Claude Lorrain's serene, golden Italian scenes. His bold temperament caused trouble: after publicly satirizing Bernini in Rome, he fled to Florence, spending nine years under Medici protection. He also painted battle scenes, philosophical subjects, and witchcraft themes that shocked contemporaries. As painter, poet, satirist, and actor, Rosa cultivated an image as a rebellious genius that made him a prototype for the Romantic artist. Edmund Burke cited him in his treatise on the sublime, and English landscape gardeners drew inspiration from his wild scenery. His reputation faded with the rise of Impressionism but has revived since the late 20th century. Major works hang at the Museo del Prado, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Gallery London.