Three ox skulls, two horse skulls, and a grotesque head, study for "Democritus in Meditation"
1662
Medium
Etching and drypoint
Dimensions
Sheet: 5 9/16 × 3 9/16 in. (14.2 × 9.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.509.7
Tags
About this artwork
This etching and drypoint, created in 1662, represents significant artistic achievement by Salvator Rosa, a Italian artist. The piece demonstrates the technical capabilities and aesthetic conventions of Italian art during this historical period. Working in etching and drypoint, the artist employed materials and techniques characteristic of the era, creating visual effects that convey both subject matter and artistic vision. Museum collections preserve such works to ensure continued study and app...
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...