Saint William of Maleval
c. 1780
Medium
Etching in sanguine on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 34.9 × 23.6 cm (13 3/4 × 9 5/16 in.); Sheet: 36.7 × 24.9 cm (14 1/2 × 9 13/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
91
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Salvaror Rosa’s many etchings were already so popular by the 18th century that entire books of reproductions were being produced in states that w'ere deceptively similar to the original prints. This example, showing a medieval hermit saint doing penance in a suit of armor (while lashed to a tree below' a crucifix), is known in both black-and-white and sanguine (reddish brown) impressions.
About the Artist
Salvator Rosa · 1615–1673
Salvator Rosa was born in 1615 in Arenella, on the outskirts of Naples, into a world of artistic ambition and turbulent talent. His early training came through his maternal uncle, the painter Paolo Greco, and his brother-in-law Francesco Fracanzano, himself a pupil of the great Spanish-born Neapolitan master Jusepe de Ribera. Rosa showed a fierce independence from the start, resisting his father's...