Landscape with a Wide River, Waterfall and Three Figures
Artist
Salvator Rosa
(Italian, 1615 - 1673)
Date1660-70
CultureItalian
MediumOil on canvas
ClassificationPaintings
ProvenanceColonel James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (1776–1845), 1st Baron Wharncliffe, Wortley Hall, South Yorkshire; (Farrer); sold in 1842 to Robert Stayner Holford (1808–1892), Dorchester House, London; by descent to Sir George Lindsay Holford (1860–1926), Dorchester House, London; (sold Holford sale, Christie’s, London, 15 July 1927, lot 93, to Goldschmidt); John Ringling (1866–1936), Sarasota, Florida; bequest in 1936 to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida.
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN153
According to Rosa's biographers and subsequent scholars, the artist did not condiser his landscapes as his primary work. Yet Rosa's landscapes offer whole new ways of understanding nature. He created dramatic compositions enhanced by impressive mountainscapes and rustic foliage. To provide a sense of scale, the figures are dwarfed by the setting. The waterfall adds an element of verticality to the strong horizontal compositions, and the expansive view is similar to the modulating landscapes of Nicolas Poussin.
On View
On viewLocation
DimensionsFrame: 40 1/2 x 62 7/8 x 4 3/4 in. (102.9 x 159.7 x 12.1 cm)- Museum of Art, Gallery 07
Image: 32 1/4 x 53 1/4 in. (81.9 x 135.3 cm)
