ROSA, SALVATOR (1615-1673), Italian painter of the Neapolitan school, was born in Arenella, in the outskirts of 'Naples, on July 21, 1615, according to Passeri. His father, Vito Antonio de Rosa, an architect, sent him to study in the convent of the Somaschi fathers. Salvator went to his uncle Paolo Greco to learn painting, then to his brother-in-law Francesco Fracan zaro, a pupil of Ribera, and afterwards to Ribera himself. He obtained some instruction under the battle-painter Aniello Fal cone, but chiefly painted alone. Encouraged by Lanfranco he went to Rome in 1635 to study; but, catching fever, he returned to Naples and Falcone, and for a while painted nothing but battle pieces. He went on to the landscape art peculiarly characteristic of him—wild scenes peopled with shepherds, seamen or especially soldiers. He then revisited Rome, and was housed by Cardinal Brancaccio. In 1646 he took part in the insurrection of Masaniello against the Spaniards but on the approach of Don John of Aus tria he escaped to Rome. He was a man of facile and versatile genius, an actor, poet and musician as well as a painter. It was about this time that Rosa wrote his satire named Babylon, under which name Rome was indicated.
Cardinal Giancarlo de' Medici now invited the painter to Florence. Salvator remained in the Tuscan capital for the better part of nine years, introducing there the new style of landscape; he had no pupils, but various imitators. Lorenzo Lippi the painter poet, and other beaux esprits shared with Rosa the hospitalities of the cardinal, and they formed an academy named I Percossi (the Stricken). He was well acquainted also with Ugo and Giulio Maffei, and housed with them more than once in Volterra, where he wrote four other satires—Music, Poetry, Painting and War.
Finally he reverted once more to Rome, and hardly left that city again. To confute his detractors he wrote the last of the series, entitled Envy. Among the pictures of his closing years were the "Battlepiece" now in the Louvre ; "Pythagoras and the Fishermen"; the "Oath of Catiline" (Pitti Gallery) ; and "Saul and the Witch of Endor" (Louvre), which is almost his latest work. He died on March 15, 1673.
Rosa was a leader in that tendency towards the romantic and picturesque which has differentiated modern from old art. He himself courted reputation for his historical works, laying compara tively little stress on his landscapes; in portraits he was forcible. In chiaroscuro he is simple and effective ; his design has energy and a certain grandeur. Among his pictures not already men tioned we may name, in the National Gallery, London, "Mer cury and the Dishonest Woodman"; in the Pitti Gallery are many representative pictures including his own portrait and a grand portrait of a man in armour. Other works are at Chantilly, Chatsworth, Leningrad, Vienna and in Rome (Gall. Nazionale and Colonna). His etchings reflect his sympathy with the rough and ready life of the soldier and peasant. He also produced a num ber of large mythological and historical plates.
See G. B. Passeri, Vite dei Pittori, Scultori ed Architetti (Rome, 1772) ; F. Baldinucci, La Vita di S. Rosa (Venice, 1830) ; Lady Morgan, Life and Times of S. R. (1824) ; G. A. Cesareo, Poesie e lettere di S. R. (Naples, 1892) ; Leandro Ozzola, Vita e Opere di Salvator Rosa (Strasbourg, 1908) ; E. W. Manwaring, Italian Land scape in 28th Century England (New York, 1925).