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Rosa (SALVATOR an Italian painter)

SALVATOR, an Italian painter, etcher and poet; born near Naples, Italy, June 20, 1615. He received instruction in art from his brother-in-law, Francesco Fracanzaro, a pupil of Ribera, but his taste and skill were more influenced by his studies of nature on the Neapolitan coast. Rosa's father, dying in 1632, left his family in difficulties, and Salvator was compelled to sell his landscapes for small sums. One of his pictures fell into the hands of the painter Lanfranco, who at once recognized the genius of the youth and encouraged him to go to Rome.

In 1638 Rosa settled in Rome, where he soon established his reputation and rose to fame and wealth. The bitterness of his satire, expressed both in his satirical poems and in an allegorical painting of ROSACEÆ the "Wheel of Fortune" rendered his stay in Rome inadvisable. He therefore accepted an invitation to Florence (1642), where he remained nearly nine years under the protection of the Medici. He finally returned to Rome. Salvator Rosa SALVATOR ROSA delighted in romantic landscape, delineating scenes of gloomy grandeur and bold magnificence. He also painted battle scenes, and latterly historical pictures.

His poems were all satires, vigorous enough and pungent; among them are "Babylon" (i. e., e., Rome), Rome), "Music," "M "Poetry," "Painting," "War," and "Envy." Rosa etched from his own works with great skill. He died in Rome, Italy, March 15, 1673. or