(Naples 1615–1673 Rome)
Figures fishing in a rocky coastal landscape,
oil on canvas, 88 x 120.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Naples

Literature:
C. Volpi, Salvator Rosa (1615–1673) ‘Pittore Famoso’, Rome 2014, p. 444, no. 103, ill.

The subject of the present painting is a marine or river view, dominated by rugged and imposing cliffs. In the foreground a group of small figures are preoccupied with conversation and fishing. A break in the densely cloud covered sky releases a warm dawn light that characterises and illuminates the scene, while on the right a shattered trunk and verdant tree serve as an arboreal frame. These are typical elements of Salvator Rosa’s paintings, particularly during his Florentine years, which were characterised by his mesmerizing, highly picturesque, landscapes.

Salvator Rosa trained in Naples in the studios of Francesco Fracanzano, Aniello Falcone and Jusepe de Ribera, and from an early age he gained distinction for his production of beautiful landscapes, and especially his marine pieces dominated by strange rock formations. At the end of the 1630s he moved to Rome where he first gained recognition in the latter genre and received prestigious commissions. Subsequently, in 1640, he moved to Florence in the service of Cardinal Giovan Carlo de Medici and other local noble families. During these years, alongside his production of figure paintings, such as his celebrated portraits of ancient philosophers, he continued to dedicate himself with great success to landscape painting, also making studies from life in the Tuscan countyside.

It is to these early Florentine years that the present painting dates. During this period his landscapes became increasingly picturesque and were characterised by the striking contrast between the small figures and the overwhelmingly savage landscape. The present work may particularly be compared to the Justice among shepherds in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, made for Cardinal de Medici and dated around 1642 (see C. Volpi, Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) ‘Pittore Famoso’, Rome 2014, pp. 436-437, no. 93).

The present painting includes a group of figures that is very similar to those in a series of early graphite and ink studies published by Mahoney (see: M. Mahoney The drawings of Salvator Rosa, 1977, vol. I, group 3, pp. 144-145). The landscape finds a counterpart in a drawing executed in the period between his departure from Naples and arrival in Florence (see: M. Mahoney, ibid., vol. I, pp. 651-655 and vol. II, no. 76.4-76.11).