An Unpublished Drawing by Salvator Rosa

An Unpublished Drawing on Panel by Salvator Rosa Depicting a Landscape with a Philosopher and Astrological Symbols

Caterina Volpi Associate Professor, Sapienza Università di Roma

The Nationalmuseum in Stockholm owns three drawings on poplar wood by Salvator Rosa, which are of exceptional value since works of art of this kind are rare in Rosa’s oeuvre and unique in their genre. One represents The Abandoned Oedipus (NM 6839), another a Rocky Landscape with a Tree and Two Figures (NMH 219/2017), and a third a Philosopher in a Wood (NMH 16/2018). The first drawing is scarcely known, but has been published and discussed by Prytz; the second, representing a rocky landscape with a magnificent tree in the foreground, is a superb version of another drawing on wood, of the same subject but of poorer quality, preserved in the Musée Fabre in Montpellier and published by Mahoney in 1977.

Mahoney 1977, n. 68.7. Rocky Landscape with a Tree and Two Figures measures 61.3 x 40 cm and is signed at lower left. It was acquired by the Museum at Christie’s on 5 July 2017, coming from Colnaghi (Colnaghi, London 2000, no. 219). It was exhibited in Naples in 2010 (Napoli 2010, II, p. 83, no. 3.42) and in Paris in 2014 (Marty de Cambiare 2014, p. 30, no. 10). Compared with the Montpellier version, the Stockholm composition is more painterly and beautiful, with generous use of ink that gives the landscape depth, movement and a characteristic dramatic impression, typical of Salvator Rosa’s late landscapes.

The drawing on panel depicting a Philosopher in a Wood came to the Nationalmuseum with the collection of Nicola Martelli in 1804. It is unpublished and was only recently rediscovered among the works in the Museum’s collection store. It depicts a stand of trees with, at its centre, an extraordinary tree trunk, whose roots enfold a stone mass on which a philosopher is seated. He is dressed in the characteristic toga and is intently examining symbols on the ground, while pointing towards the horizon. In the background, a group of trees whose branches are tossed in the wind underline the wild and remote nature of the landscape.

Salvator Rosa (1615–1673), Philosopher in a Wood, c. 1665. Pencil and ink heightened with white on panel, 48 x 66,2 cm. Nationalmuseum, NMH 16/2018. The drawing arrived in Sweden with the collection of Nicola Martelli, botanist, chemist, doctor and above all dealer in paintings and other works of art in Rome during the second half of the 18th century. He was close to Sigismondo Chigi, an heir of the Chigi family who was very much involved in science and art, but he was also in touch with other amateurs such as Cardinal Fesch. On Martelli and Sweden, see S. Norlander Eliasson in Norlander Eliasson, Prytz, Eriksson and Ekman, 2015, pp. 19–35, and D. Prytz in ibid., pp. 37–51. It is possible that Martelli, being so involved in science and experimental methods, would have greatly appreciated the iconography of Salvator Rosa and decided to acquire it on the market, or that he bought it from Sigismondo Chigi’s collection where, somehow, the drawing arrived during the 17th century, possibly through Rosa’s friends Niccolò Simonelli or Carlo de Rossi. I am most grateful to Martin Olin for having read my text and for giving me a good deal of interesting advice about provenance.

The drawing, signed “SR” at the lower right, belongs to a nucleus of just twelve drawings in pen and white lead on panel, attributable to Rosa, that have thus far come to light. This small group of works is nonetheless significant because it is unique in its kind, representing a midway point between painting and drawing.

Download and read the whole article as pdf