Lot 1540 Dα

The present, hitherto unpublished, landscape is a typical example of Rosa´s mature output: the composition is divided into various grounds by the diagonal line of the water, a “blasted tree” punctuates the right side of the canvas, counterpointing the soldiers and bandits who gather, conversing and resting on the left, and, typically, the painter seems to focus on the illustration of the rocks, which, so often in Rosa´s output, are rendered in their bizarre details and become the central element of the landscape, a natural stage to the depicted scene.

This rocky coastal landscape with figures was likely painted during the 1650s and closely relates to other canvases executed in that period, when Rosa often featured the mountainous topography of the Roman countryside. This group of pictures, executed upon Rosa´s return to Rome, shows the influence of Gaspard Dughet´s classical approach to landscape painting.

A reference for dating is the 1656 publication "Figurine", a series of more than thirty etchings of figures in various costumes and poses. Dedicated to Rosa’s patron Carlo de’ Rossi, the publication included several examples of soldiers grouped together, the postures used in some of the sheets can be found in the present canvas. Further parallels can be detected between other works such as Bandits on a Rocky Coast (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), which presents a very similar group of figures framed by an nearly identical landscape, the rocky arches in "Marina con arco roccioso" (Palazzo Doria Pamphilij, Rome) and to the Finding of Moses (Detroit Institute of Arts, inv. 47.92).
The present canvas can be considered the prototype for a workshop version of the same composition housed today in the Hermitage (oil on canvas, 52.5 х 91.5 cm, inv. 179).

Neapolitan by birth, Salvator Rosa was a painter, actor, poet and one of the most unconventional figures of his century. His flamboyant character, as well as his varied artistic output - portraits, allegories, nocturnal and witchcraft scenes, and foremost landscapes - lead him to be identified as a proto-romantic artist.

He was in fact highly influential on the development of ideas of the Picturesque and the Sublime, shaping a new typology of landscape. His wild and savage rocky cliffs, jagged, moss-laden trees, and rough bravura handling created a desolate feeling that contrasted sharply with the serenity of Claude Lorrain or the classical grandeur of Poussin.