Salvator Rosa among the Brigands
Not on view
During the 1840s, the Italian Baroque painter Salvator Rosa was celebrated in Britain and France as a proto-Romantic artist known especially for his depictions of bandits in rugged landscapes, such as Bandits on a Rocky Coast, 1655–60 (134.137). Rosa's own life story conflated with his subject matter and published biographies such as Lady Morgan’s "The Life and Times of Salvator Rosa" (1824) recounted the myth of his own capture by bandits in the Abruzzi mountains. This print reproduces a painting (now lost) by Guignet based on this tale that he exhibited in the Salon of 1844. The commentary accompanying its publication in the journal "L'Artiste" on March 24, 1844 stated, "The story of Salvator Rosa among the brigands is as well known as that of Adam and Eve." Guignet's reputation became closely associated with Rosa. Poet and critic Charles Baudelaire even remarked upon the affinity between their works in his Salon critiques of 1845 and 1846.
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