A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, ArchitectureWaters, Clara Erskine Clement
History
A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture
Waters, Clara Erskine Clement
Art -- History
He married the daughter of a rich picture dealer, and became very rich
himself. In 1630 he was made a member of the Academy of St. Luke, at Rome,
and in 1648 Pope Innocent X. sent him the cross of the Order of Christ.
Few Italian artists were better known in their own country, and many of
his pictures were sent to Spain. His greatest excellence was in his
knowledge of anatomy, and he painted subjects that enabled him to show
this. Among his famous works are a "Descent from the Cross;" "The Flaying
of St. Bartholomew;" "Ixion on the Wheel;" and "Cato of Utica." His works
are in all the famous galleries of the world.
Ribera's greatest pupil was SALVATOR ROSA (1615-1673), the landscape
painter, who was a very gifted man, being a poet and musician as well as
an artist. His father was an educated man, and with his other relatives
encouraged his son in his taste for art. When twenty years old he went to
Rome, and with the exception of some intervals remained there during his
life.
It is said that as a youth he associated much with bandits, and, when one
considers the wildness of many of his scenes and the character of the
figures in their midst, it is not difficult to believe that this may have
been true. It is certain that he painted the portrait of the famous
Masaniello more than once, and he is believed to have joined the
_Compagnia della Morte_, of which Falcone, one of his masters, was the
captain.
Salvator made many enemies by his independence and his inclination to
satire. He wrote satires on various subjects which were not published
until after his death, but it was known that he had written them. He
married a Florentine woman, who was the mother of his two sons. When he
died he was buried in the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where a
monument is erected to his memory.
He painted some historical subjects and portraits in which he followed the
Naturalists, but his principal works were landscapes. Jagged rocks and
mountains, wild dells and lonely defiles, with here and there robbers,
hermits, or soldiers, make his most effective pictures. There is a deep
sense of desolation, almost of fear, in them which is very impressive.
Sometimes he painted serene landscapes and poetic figures; but his best
works are not of this sort. His pictures are in the principal public and
in some private galleries. He also left about ninety etchings which are
masterly in execution and full of expression in the heads, while the
atmosphere is soft. When his works are sold they bring great prices. A
large landscape with Apollo and the Sibyl in the foreground brought eight
thousand five hundred dollars in England years ago, and is now worth much
more than that.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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