Salvator Rosa's Democritus and L'Umana Fragilità Author(s): Richard W. Wallace Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 50, No. 1 (Mar., 1968), pp. 21-32 Published by: College Art Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3048508 . Accessed: 25/03/2011 08:17

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=caa. .

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

College Art Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Art Bulletin.

http://www.jstor.org 's Democritusand L'UmanaFragilifia* 21

RICHARD W. WALLACE

SalvatorRosa never put into practicehis frequently expressed portraits are more complex and have the erudite embellish- and precociouslyromantic yearnings for a life of solitude and ments favored by Rosa, who liked to think of himself chiefly hermit simplicity, but these feelings did affect his choice of as a painterof learnedand philosophicallyprofound subjects." subject matter considerably,so that he was perhaps most fa- The Self-Portraithas the skull, books, pen, and paper so often mous in later periods for his landscapeswith "savage banditti" seen in of St. Jerome as a solitary, scholarly peni- and "solitaryhermits."' There are many examples of his work tent, and the inscriptionon the piece of paper declares that it in this vein; among the most interesting are his St. Paul the was painted "nell'Eremo,"in the retreat or hermitage, for Hermit, a now in the Brera,Milan, in which the saint Rosa's friend Giovanni Battista Ricciardi.7The way in which is depictedas a shaggy, white-beardedcave dwellerin a gloomy the skull is held and contemplatedis also reminiscentof Do- forest, and the two large etchings of the hermit St. William menico Fetti's painting and Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione's and his companion Albert, who are shown bound to trees in etching of Melancholy,the latter of which was known to Rosa uncomfortablypenitent positions in the midst of a wilderness.2 at the time the Self-Portraitwas executed, and it is especially For Rosa, a painter of Neapolitan origin who had studied in relevant to this discussion that both of these artists made their the Ribera circle, the hermit saint tradition was an especially figures look like penitent Magdalenes (Figs. 4, 5).8 In addition, vivid one, and the Riberesque motive of the isolated figure it seems likely that Rosa was here influenced by the well-es- with a skull often appearsin his art, as seen in a drawing now tablished tradition of the portrait with a skull. Although ex- in the British Museum (Fig. 1),3 in his Self-Portrait with a amples of this portrait type are found in Italian Renaissance Skull in the MetropolitanMuseum of Art (Fig. 2),' and in the and Baroqueart, they tend to be ratherrare comparedto their Portrait of Mr. Altham as a Hermit in the Bankes Collection great popularity in Northern sixteenth and seventeenth cen- at Kingston Lacy (Fig. 3).5 tury art, and it therefore seems quite possible that Northern The drawing is a traditional handling of the hermit saint models may have helped to shape Rosa's concetto.9 theme, closely dependent on Riberesque prototypes, but the If the inscription he writes on the skull, ivn n7r 7ro---"Be-

NB A bibliography of frequently cited sources, given short titles in the Artistes italiens contemporains de Poussin, XXIII* Exposition du footnotes, will be found at the end of this article. Cabinet des Dessins, Mus4e du , Paris, 1959, 37, No. 63) and * I am very grateful to Profs. Erwin Panofsky and John R. Martin of another in the Teyler Museum, Haarlem, E 31, show a youthful stand- Princeton University and to Mr. Anthony Oldcorn of Wellesley Col- ing figure contemplating a skull. The of South lege for their advice and help in the preparation of this study. Africa, Cape Town, has a similar drawing of a man seated with a 1 A characteristic expression of these sentiments is found in a letter skull in his lap (W. Vitzthum, in Master Drawings, 1, No. 4, 1963, 59, from Rosa to his friend Giovanni Battista Ricciardi dated December, fig. 1). A drawing in the Uffizi, Florence, 12093F, is closest to the 1671: ". .. ma per dirvela, cosi nauseato d'ogn'altra cosa, che piil painting and shows a youth standing in front of a tomb and writing d'una volta sono stato tentato di ficcarmi in una Certosa, per non on a skull. Except for the Haarlem drawing, the figures all wear uscir mai pid d'una di quelle celle. O Dio, e quanto son divenuto crowns of cypress. For a discussion of the skull as a symbol of death impaziente e stufo di veder pii' imagine humana!" (De Rinaldis, Let- and its association with hermit saints, especially St. Jerome, see Jan- tere inedite, 237, No. 198). See also R. W. Wallace, "Salvator Rosa's son, "Putto," 423-32. Justice Appearing to the Peasants," JWarb, 30, 1967, 431-34. 8 Fetti's Melancholy exists in a number of versions, two of which are 2 Salerno, Rosa, 126, No. 52; Bartsch 1, Salerno, Rosa, 149, illustrated generally accepted as autograph; one in the Louvre, Paris, the other in A. Pettorelli, Salvator Rosa, pittore, incisore, musicista, poeta, (Fig. 4) in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, No. 671. The print, Turin, 1924, pl. 47; and Bartsch 2, Salerno, Rosa, 138, No. 99, respec- Bartsch 26, is not dated, but A. Blunt, The Drawings of G. B. Casti- tively. See also M. Mahoney, "Salvator Rosa's Saint Humphrey," The glione and Stefano della Bella, in the Collection of Her Majesty the Minneapolis Institute of Arts Bulletin, 53, No. 3, 1964, 55-67. Queen at Windsor Castle, London, 1954, 12, gives 1648 as the most 3 CrackerodeFr. 2-175; 18.5 x 12cm. likely date on stylistic grounds. As will be discussed below, Rosa 4 Accession No. 21.105; 39" x 31.5." Salerno, Rosa, 123, No. 40, who used this etching as a model for his Democritus, which is earlier in gives it a probable date of 1659. See also Oertel, "Vergiinglichkeit," date than the Self-Portrait with a Skull. 108f. 9 A. Pigler, Barockthemen, Budapest-Berlin, 1956, II, 577-80. Oertel, 5 2.35 x 1.63m; traditionally dated 1665. Salerno, Rosa, 123, No. 38; and "Verglinglichkeit,"108, also sees a connection to Northern portraits Italian Art and Britain, 20f., No. 15. I am very grateful to Mr. H. J. R. of this type. The closest parallel to Rosa's picture I have found is a Bankes for permission to publish this picture. drawing by Hendrick Goltzius in the Pierpont Morgan Library, Inv. 6 See Wallace, "Genius," 471-80, esp. 473f.; Mahoney, "Rosa's Saint In, 145, in which a youth, shown bust length, holds a skull with a Humphrey,"55f. tulip against it much as Rosa's figure holds the pen to the skull; 7 There are also a number of Rosa drawings that are much like the E. K. J. Reznicek, Die Zeichnungen von Hendrick Goltzius, Utrecht, Self-Portrait with a Skull. Two in the Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins, 1961, I, 389f., No. 332, II, pl. 443. Inv. No. 9730r and v (see J. Bean, Dessins romains du XVII"sidcle, 22 TheArt Bulletin

hold, Whither, When"--has the ambiguity usually associated rier's seventeenth century publicationof engravings after fa- withsuch declarations, the mementomori significance of the mous antique statues, One HundredRoman Statues Spared by skull itself is perfectlyclear,'0 and is reinforcedby the crown the Envious Tooth of Time (Fig. 6)."1 There is no particular of funerarycypress that garlandshis head."It wouldalso reason, therefore,to identify the Belvederetorso specificallyas seemthat Rosa originally intended to referto his own Stoi- a symbol of strength, although the basic vanitas implication cism, showinghimself contemplatingthe death'shead with of this interpretationis clearly the point of the relief as Rosa Stoic calm and resignation,since the book upon which the uses it. skullrests has "Seneca"written on its spine,the lettersnow The hermit saint traditionwas also of generalimportance to onlyfaintly visible.12 one of Rosa's largest and most ambitious pictures, the De- Rosa'sMr. Althamas a Hermit(Fig. 3), a familyportrait mocritusin Meditationnow in the Statens Museum for Kunst, in theBankes Collection, is a similarand even more ambitious Copenhagen (Fig. 7).17 In addition, it can be shown that the attemptat moralizingportraiture. Mr. Altham,a visitor to Democritus is specificallydependent on a pictorial and icon- Italyin thelater seventeenth century and possibly a studentof ographic tradition that received its decisive formation with Rosa's,1'is shownstanding in darkand gloomy solitude garbed Albrecht Diirer's Melencolia 1.18 Diirer's subtle and complex in a hermit'srough gray robe. He trampleson a booklabeled print engenderedtwo major responses in Italy that led in turn "Epicu.. re ..." (clearlya referenceto Epicurus)and its to Rosa's painting. The earlier and most important reaction accompanyingscroll which bears the wordsPostmortem nulla was Domenico Fetti's Melancholy (Fig. 4) which, like the voluptas("There is no pleasureafter death");14 he gazescon- Diirer, shows a brooding female figure sunk in melancholic templativelyat a still life groupcomposed of a skull,the Gos- inaction and surroundedby implements symbolizing human pels (the end of the book'stitle is screenedby the skull'sjaw, activities, practical and theoretical. Fetti departs from his producing"Evangel.. ."), and anotherscroll which piously model in adding brushes, a palette, and a sculptureas specific answersEpicurus with Postmortemsumma voluptas ("The references to artistic activities and, most important, he also greatestpleasure is afterdeath"). The thistleplant that flour- gives his Magdalene-like Melancholy a skull as a memento ishesin theright foreground is probably used here as a symbol mori, thus making his picture unmistakably an allegory of of evanescence,as will be discussedin greaterdetail below vanitas.'9 As Panofsky and Saxl have observed, that which with referenceto Rosa'sL'Umana Fragilitca. The relief,which had been with Diirer only a dark, barely conscious doubt showsa wingedold man with scythe gnawing at theBelvedere whether human works and thought were really significantin torso,has been interpreted as "Timedevouring Strength."'5 A the face of eternity here condenses itself into a clearly put modificationof this explanation can be offered,however, since question, which is answered with a resolute and unequivocal Rosaunmistakably copied the frontispieceof FranqoisPer- "no.1120

10 For the symbolic significance of skulls and skeletons and their asso- translation of the title here. ciation with ideas of memento mori and vanitas see F. P. Weber, 17 R.M., Inv. No. 4112; 3.44 x 2.14m; signed. Its companion piece, Aspects of Death and Correlated Aspects of Life in Art, Epigram and Throwing Away His Bowl, is also in the Copenhagen Mu- Poetry, 3rd ed., London, 1918; Mile, Concile, 203-27, ch. v, "La seum. See H. Olsen, Italian Paintings and Sculpture in Denmark, Mort"; E. Panofsky, Meaning in the Visual Arts, New York, 1957, Copenhagen, 1961, 85f.; Salerno, Rosa, 110, No. xIII, 29, 94, 43f. (and "Et in Arcadia Ego: Poussin and the Elegiac Tradition," 308f.; Jan- 121, No. 31 for the Diogenes). Both Olsen and Salerno state that the son, "Putto," 423-49; K. Bauch, Der friihe Rembrandt und seine picture was painted in 1650 and exhibited at the Pantheon in March, Zeit, Berlin, 1960, 21-29; J. Seznec, "Youth, Innocence and Death," 1651. However, a letter of March 10, 1651, indicates that Rosa also JWarb,1, 1937-38, 298-303. worked on the picture early in 1651, before exhibiting it. See U. 11 For other examples of Rosa's use of funerary cypress see Wallace, Limentani, Poesie e lettere inedite di Salvatore Rosa, Florence, 1950, "Genius," 475. Oertel, "Vergainglichkeit,"108, also notes this sym- 72, No. v, and 24. See also De Rinaldis, Lettere inedite, 18f., No. 8. bolic intent. 18 In my discussion of Domenico Fetti's and G. B. Castiglione's inter- 12 A brief discussion of Rosa's Stoicism is found in Wallace, "Genius," pretations of Melancholy and their relation to the Diirer print, I have 474. relied heavily on E. Panofsky and F. Saxl's classic Diirers Melencolia 13 E. K. Waterhouse, "A Note on British Collecting of Italian Pictures in I, Leipzig-Berlin,1923, especially 151-54 (also found in R. Klibansky, the Later Seventeenth Century," BurlM, 102, 1960, 58, and the same E. Panofsky, and F. Saxl, Saturn and Melancholy, New York, 1964, writer's letter under the heading "Salvator Rosa and Mr. Altham," 388-90). The authors state that the Fetti was no doubt the most im- 122. portant work of art to arise under the influence of the Diirer print 14 See J. H. Whitfield's letter under the heading "Salvator Rosa and Mr. and that the Castiglione etching is dependent on both the Diirer Altham," BurlM, 102, 1960, 167. and the Fetti. They also discuss the memento mori, vanitas, and 15 Waterhouse, "British Collecting," 58. moralizing qualities of the two later works. See also R. Bernheimer, 16 F. Perrier, Segmenta nobilium signorum et statuarum quae temporis "Some Drawings by Benedetto Castiglione," AB, 33, 1951, 50, fig. 4, dentem invidium evasere, , 1638. E. Panofsky, Studies in Iconol- for a Castiglione drawing much like the etching. ogy, New York-Evanston-London,1962, "Father Time," 83, fig. 60, 19 Panofsky-Saxl, Diirers Melencolia I, 154, mention the figure's strong illustrates the frontispiece and discusses it briefly. I use his English connection to a penitent Magdalene type and point out that the SALVATOR ROSA 23

The second majorItalian response to MelencoliaI was G. B. accomplishmentsby filling his composition with symbols of Castiglione'setching of 1648, Melancholy (Fig. 5). In its fun- human activities, practical, theoretical, and artistic, but Rosa damental conception it depends on the Diirer print, but also melodramaticallyemphasizes sheer death and mortality. He borrows many of its implements and symbols directly from includes only a few symbols of human activities in the form the Fetti painting. Even more important, the etching has the of books, papers, and a warrior'shelmet in the painting, with memento mori and vanitas significance of the Fetti, and de- the addition of a painter's brush and stick in the right fore- velops the moralizing characterof the painting even further ground of the etching, and even these are all but buried in by the addition of an inscription, Ubi Inletabilitas ibi Virtus piles of bones and skulls. A similar statement of despair is ("Wherethere is melancholy,there also is virtue").21 found in Rosa's satire Tirreno: "And let Cleanthes' lantern Rosa in turn used Castiglione's etching as the basic model tell them that all of our works are short-lived and feeble; there for the Democritus.Y2His philosopher and Castiglione's Mel- is nothing here below that lasts forever. The colosseums crum- ancholy are seated in very similar postures; she holds a scroll ble, the terme crumble, the worlds are dust, their pomps a of music and a skull in her lap,2 he holds only a book but nothing, and human pride a smoke, a worm. In this comic fic- looks down at the macabrestill life on the ground, which also tion which attracts and beguiles us and which is called life, contains a human skull as a memento mori. In both, the com- the cradleis for us the prologueto tragedy."26 positional format is very similar, crumbling overgrown ruins His referenceto Cleanthes, or to Seneca in the Self-Portrait and fragments surroundinga central solitary figure. The pic- with a Skull, are characteristicmanifestations of Rosa's defi- turesque setting and variations on antique urns, altars, and nite, if rather self-conscious and ostentatious Stoic attitudes.27 reliefs of the Democritus also show the influence of other It comes as no surprise that a professed Stoic should paint a Castiglione etchings, especially the Diogenes with its herm, vanitas picturethat stresses the futility of earthly pursuits and urn, altar, owl, and large animal skull.24Moreover, Rosa re- the inevitability of obliteratingdeath, nor is it surprisingthat producedthe Democritusalmost exactly, some ten years later, Rosa should clothe his vanitas allegory in antique dress, as in an etching that has clear technical and stylistic affinities R. Oertel puts it,28 since he took great pride in his erudition, with the Castiglioneprint (Fig. 8).25 includinghis knowledge of ancientliterature and philosophy.29 Importantas these formal similaritiesare, the essential link But it is rather remarkablethat Rosa chose Democritus, best between Castiglione's Melancholy and Rosa's Democritus is known as a philosopherof great learning and as the "laughing their agreementin basic theme, the melancholiccontemplation philosopher,"for his gloomy protagonist. of the fragility of human life and the vanity of human achieve- Two particularliterary sources have been suggested for this ment. Nevertheless, there is an important difference of em- choice of subject, neither of which is an adequateexplanation phasis between the two. Castiglione accentuates man's vain by itself. Pigler proposes as a possible source a dialogue of

Paris version was actually catalogued as such in the 17th century. See 24, A Tomb Filled with Arms. also Oertel, "Vergainglichkeit,"116. 25 Bartsch 7; 46.5 x 27.5cm; datable to 1661-62. See Salerno, Rosa, 97, 20 Panofsky-Saxl, Dilrers Melencolia I, 154. 52; De Rinaldis, Lettere inedite, 131-33, No. 100 bis, March 11, 1662; 21 Bartsch (No. 26) observes that the first impressions of the Castiglione Oertel, "Verginglichkeit," 118 n. 31. There are also three separate etching were made before the inscription and the address of the pub- etching studies of the skulls by Rosa, impressions of which are found lisher Rossi were added, and calls the print simply "La femme assise in the collection of the Department of Prints, Metropolitan Museum dans des ruines." of Art, New York. See G. K. Nagler, Die Monogrammisten, Munich, 22 Oertel, "Vergainglichkeit,"110, states that Rosa definitely modeled his 1879, v, "S.R.,"Nos. 108-10. painting on the print. Blunt, Drawings of Castiglione and Della Bella, 26 Cesareo, Poesie e lettere, I, 380, vv. 316-24: "E sapin pur di Cleantea 13, makes a general association of the Democritus with the grim, Lucerna / Tutte l'opre di noi caduce e inferme; / Cosa non v'? qua picturesque phase of Castiglione's work, which includes the Melan- giA che duri Eterna. / Muoiono i Collossei, mouion le Terme, / Son choly, and says that in a number of compositions, among them the polve i Mondi, le sue pompe un Nulla / E l'humana alteriggia un Democritus, Rosa borrowed freely from Castiglione. It is noteworthy fumo, un Verme. / In questa che ci alletta, e ci trastulla / Comica in this context that Rosa's allegorical etching Genius is based on the finzion che nome ha Vita / Prologo di Tragedia &a noi la Culla." U. Castiglione print of the same subject (Wallace, "Genius," 475), and Limentani, La satira nel seicento, Milan-, 1961, 236-38, dates that the seated woman in Rosa's La Filosofia, now in the Enzenberg Tirreno to the last years of the artist's life. Collection, Palazzo Enzenberg, Caldaro, Bolzano, repeats the pose of 27 See Wallace, "Genius," 474. Cleanthes was successor to Zeno as head Diirer's Melencolia I figure almost exactly. See W. Arslan, "Sul sei- of the Stoic school, from 263 to 232 B.c. "Lucerna"probably refers to cento napoletano," Le Arti, Aug.-Dec., 1943, 257-60, fig. 1; Salerno, the fact that he worked at night in order to support his daytime Rosa, 139, who dates it a little before 1649; Wallace, "Genius," 478. studies. 23 See G. Bandmann, Melancholie und Musik, Cologne, 1960, 101-3, 28 Oertel, "Vergainglichkeit,"109. 123-26. 29 See Wallace, "Genius," 471-80, esp. 473f.; Mahoney, "Rosa's. Saint 24 Bartsch 21. Blunt, Drawings of Castiglione and Della Bella, 12, finds Humphrey,"55f. 1648 the most probable date for this etching on stylistic grounds. See also Bartsch 16, Festival of Pan; Bartsch 6, Lazarus; and Bartsch 24 TheArt Bulletin

Lucian'sin which Democritusis describedas having shut him- the author of works on ethics, astronomy, physics, agricul- self up in a tomb with his studies, only to be disturbedby boys ture, mathematics,literature, music, and medicine,to give only who dress themselves in skeleton costumes and try, without the broadest categories.34He was also thought of as a magi- success, to frighten him.s0Since the prankstersare not present cian and predictorof the future,85 and one anecdote about him in Rosa's works, it is clear that Lucian's anecdote cannot be relates that he foresaw his own death but postponed it for consideredhis immediatesource. three days by breathing the fumes of hot loaves in order not The more commonly accepted interpretationof Rosa's pic- to die during a festival and inconveniencehis sister.3sIn addi- ture and etching is that they relate to the story of Hippocrates' tion, he was known as a solitary scholar, as the sources dis- visit to Democritus as told in the apocryphalletters of Hip- cussed above mention, and even as a frequenter of tombs."7 pocrates,which were known in a number of Latin translations Thus Democritus,when encounteredin the context of Rosa's in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."3This text relates painting and etching, is the lonely master of great knowledge that Hippocrateswas called in by Democritus'fellow citizens that extends even into the realm of the supernatural,who of Abdera because, seeing the philosopheroff by himself and neverthelessdespairs of it all and sits broodingover the wreck- surroundedby his books and the bodies of dissected animals age of mortality. that he was studying, they mistook his scholarly absorption However, the decisive factor in Rosa's choice of subjectmat- and odd behavior for insanity. The physician found Democri- ter was his familiaritywith the well-developed pictorialtradi- tus strange in appearanceand preoccupiedwith his research, tion of the paired philosophers,the laughing Democritus and but sane, hospitable, and wise. As in the case of Lucian'sdi- the weeping .38This dichotomy, already well es- alogue, the absence of any referencein the painting and etch- tablished in ancient literature,89was especially popular in the ing to the essential elements of Hippocrates' visit, together Northern countriesduring the Renaissanceand Baroqueperi- with the completelack of any vanitas significancein the apoc- ods. Like the portraitwith a skull, it was a relatively unusual ryphal letters, rule them out as a specificliterary source. How- subject in Italian art prior to Rosa, and suggests that he may ever, it is possible that Rosa may have known and been have been influencedby a Northern model on this occasion as influenced by a painting, print, or drawing of Hippocrates' well.40One Italian example is a painting of the pair by Rosa visit to Democritus, several Northern examples of which are himself, now lost, which Baldinuccidescribes as "a tondo with known.32 half length figures in natural size."4' In addition, the Teyler These two accounts are, however, clear reflections of De- Museum, Haarlem,has in its collection a Rosa drawing which mocritus' reputation in classical literature. He was known shows a seated and foolishly grinning man looking at the chiefly as the great atomist,33and also as a philosopherof im- bright side of a globe while a standing man leans on the mense erudition, wide experience, and great productivity; shaded side, hands clenched and face hidden in despair (Fig.

30 Pigler, Barockthemen, 1, 296; Lucian The Lover of Lies, or the in his studies and surrounded by books and animals, dead and alive, Doubter 32 (A. M. Harmon, Lucian, London-Cambridge, Mass. with Hippocrates standing near or approaching. Stechow, "Zwei Dar- [Loeb Classical Library],1947, I.I, 369f.). stellungen," 37, also proposes a Stammbaum of this pictorial type, 31 Olsen, Italian Paintings, 86, mentions the letters as a probable source including a lost painting by Pieter Lastman in addition to those by for Rosa's interpretation; Salerno, Rosa, 110, No. xim, 44, accepts Moeyart and Berchem, which may go back to the circle of Elsheimer. them as the definite source. W. Stechow, "Zwei Darstellungen aus As Oertel says, this would increase the likelihood of pictorial exam- Hippokrates in der hollaindischenMalerei," Oudheidkundig Jaarboek, ples being known in Italy. However, it should be observed that not 4, 1924, 34-38, has shown that this text was used as the basis for only is the Castiglione print a much more direct model for the paintings by the Dutch artists Moeyart and Berchem and has pointed Democritus, but Rosa was also fond of painting animals, skeletons, out that Latin translations of the apocryphal letters appeared in edi- skulls, and bones anyway. Nevertheless, the way he places the dead tions as early as 1544 in Paris, 1579 in Basel, and 1588 in Venice. He animals around his philosopher is reminiscent of these Northern ex- reproduces (pp. 35ff.) the most important parts of the description of amples, and is a persuasive, if not conclusive, argument in favor of Hippocrates' visit to Democritus from the Latin Geneva edition of Rosa's knowledge of such a model. See also Robert Burton ("Democ- 1657. The association of this account with Rosa's picture seems to ritus Junior"), The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford, 1621 and later have been made originally by O. Jorgensen, cited by E. Zahle, "Til- editions, for an interesting variation on the story of Hippocrates' vaekst af Italiensk Barok,"Kunstmuseets Aarskrift, 24, 1937, 150. visit to Democritus. 32 Using similar arguments, Oertel, "Verglinglichkeit,"120, finds it very 33 In the satire Invidia Rosa says: "Altro camin non ho che la finestra, unlikely that Rosa referred directly to the text for his Democritus, but / Dove al foco del sol mi fa Democrito / Un pan grattato d'Atomi in thinks he may have been influenced by a pictorial prototype. As he minestra." A marginal note by Rosa himself says: "S'allude all'opin- points out, paintings by Jan Lievens and Jakob Adriaensz Backer of ione di Democrito ch'il tutto diceva esser fatto d'atomi." (Cesareo, Hippocrates' visit to Democritus are now known in addition to the Poesie e lettere, 1,293, vv. 241-43) examples discussed by Stechow, and they show Democritus absorbed 34 Diogenes Laertius Lives of Eminent Philosophers 9. 46-49. SALVATOR ROSA 25

9).42 The drawing is quite clearly a traditional treatment of these implementsand objects have symbolic value in addition Democritus laughing at the world and Heraclitus weeping to their picturesquegrimness, and some of them can be traced over it. There can be no doubt that Rosa's Democritus etch- to particularsources and have ratherspecial meanings. ing, because of its inscription-Democritus omnium derisor in Democritusstares down at a striking and beautifully painted omniumfine defigitur ("Democritus,the mocker of all things, vanitas still life composed of a human skull, animal skulls is [here] stopped by the end of all things")-has its source in and skeletons, bones, a helmet, crumpledbooks, and tattered this tradition, and it seems reasonableto think that Rosa had papers. The painting has a volute-like architecturalfragment, this idea in mind when he first conceived of the painting as a dead rat in front of the human skull, and a scroll next to the well, some ten years before the etching.4sBut by showing the rat, which are not found in the etching, and the etching has a laughing philosopher in Heraclitus' posture of despair, Rosa stone plaque next to the philosopherand a painter'sbrush and imaginativelytwisted this traditionaltheme and gave it a new stick in the right foregroundnot present in the painting. As poignancy.44 has been discussed earlier,these objects are symbolic of death, The Democrituswas paintedin the years 1650-1651, shortly evanescence, and the vanity of man's literary, artistic, and after Rosa returnedto Rome from a more than eight-year stay military achievements, and this significanceis heightened by in Florence.His contactwith the art of Rome at this time seems their battered disorder and negligent clutter, a method of to have been an important stimulus in his general stylistic handling often used in vanitas still-life paintings.45 developmentaway from landscapes,harbor scenes, and paint- Although it hardly seems necessary to consult literary ings with small figures toward more grand and monumental sources to discover the significanceof the dead rat as used in compositions with large figures, learned subject matter, and this context, it is possible to connect it with several ratherspe- reducedlandscape settings. The Democritusis one of the earli- cific symbolic traditions. Most commonly the mouse or rat is est and most successful of these large figure pictures, and used as a symbol of all-devouring time, disappearance,and shows the artist exploiting his characteristicallypicturesque destruction,a meaning that fits Rosa's usage quite well.46It is handling of formal means to achieve a mood of disturbing noteworthy, however, that Rosa goes a step beyond the usual uneasiness appropriateto the subject matter. The colors are symbolic treatment,which makes use of destructivelyalive ro- somber, the raking light produces gloomy and mysterious dents, and shows his rat as dead. It seems likely that the best shadows, and the darktomb and jagged trees behind the philos- explanation is found in Pierio Valeriano's Hieroglyphica, an opher are dramaticallysilhouetted against a stormy sky. He is iconographichandbook that was one of Rosa's favorites and the center of a menacing composition; broken trees push which he specificallyused in this picturefor the leaning obelisk through crumbling ruins and loom ominously over him, and with its relief carvings at the extreme right (cf. Fig. 11). Ac- a jumble of grisly wreckage crowds in upon him. Many of cording to Valeriano, a dead rat signifies weakness and help-

35 Pliny Natural History 30. 2. 9-11 considers Democritus the most im- disposition of the lighted and shaded sides of the sphere is conven- portant of all students and teachers of magic. tional imagery (see Weisbach, "Geograph," 152; Mbller, "Demokrit 36 Diogenes Laertius Lives 9. 39, 43. und Heraklit," 1248). 37 Ibid. 9. 36, 38f.; and Pliny Natural History 30. 2. 9. 43 Oertel, "Verglinglichkeit," 109, observes that the etching's inscrip- 38 See W. Weisbach, "Der sogenannte Geograph von Velasquez und die tion relates it to the laughing philosopher tradition and states (p. Darstellungen des Demokrit und Heraklit," JPKS,49, 1928, 141-58; L. 120) that its vanitas significance is definitely present in the painting Mibller,"Demokrit und Heraklit," Reallexicon zur deutschen Kunst- as well. geschichte, 1954, In, 1244-51; D. F. Darby, "Ribera and the Wise 44 Weisbach, "Geograph," 150, calls Rosa's paradoxical interpretation Men," AB, 44, 1962, 284-95; W. Stechow, "Rembrandt-Democritus," "Eine echte Erfindung des Barock, wo einem geistreich-spitzfindigen AQ, 7, 1944, 232-38; E. Wind, "The Christian Democritus," JWarb, concetto, einer verbliiffenden Pointe zuliebe alles auf den Kopf ge- 1, 1937-38, 180-82; J. Bialostocki, "Rembrandt's'Terminus,' " WRJb, stellt wird, und h6chst bezeichnend fiir die eigenwillig-eitle, neurungs- 28, 1966, 49-60; A. Blankert, "Heraclitus en Democritus," NedJb, siichtige, auf Ausgefallenes fahnende Art Salvator Rosas." 18, 1967, 31-123. 45 Bergstro5m,Dutch Still-Life Painting, 172. Oertel, "Vergainglichkeit," 39 Democritus is mentioned as the laughing philosopher by Cicero De 105-20, presents a comprehensive analysis of the still-life tradition of oratore 2. 235 and Horace Epistles 2. 1. 194f. The laughing Democri- the evanescence of the arts and sees the Democritus still life as re- tus and weeping Heraclitus are written about together by Juvenal lated to it (pp. 109f.). Satires 10. 28-53; Seneca De ira 2. 10. 5 and De tranquillitate animi 46 Ripa, Iconologia, pt. 1, 164f., "Danno," and 191-93, "Detrattione"; 15. 2f.; and Lucian Philosophies for Sale 13f. Valeriano, Hieroglyphica, 99v-lo0r, Detrimentum; G. Boas, The Hier- 40 Pigler, Barockthemen, II, 296-98; Weisbach, "Geograph," 141-58. oglyphics of Horapollo, New York, 1950, Bk. 1, 80, No. 50, "Disappear- 41 F. Baldinucci, Delle notizie de' professori del disegno da Cimabue in ance"; Panofsky, Meaning in the Visual Arts, 307f.; idem, Studies in am und andere antike qua, xix, Florence, 1773, 26; Salerno, Rosa, 151. Iconology, 80f.; idem, Hercules Scheidewege, 42 Inv. E9; 12.8 x 11.6cm; dated 1646 on the base of the sphere. Rosa's Bildstoffe in der neueren Kunst, Leipzig, 1930, 92. 26 TheArt Bulletin

lessness, Imbecillitas,because the rat is an especially fragile of noble, lofty thought and imperial power, is toppled."5In creaturethat is easily killed and generally has the briefest of the painting only the skull and antlerremain of a stag, an ani- lives.47 mal often used as a symbol of longevity because its large ant- The artist also introduceda personal note into the vanitas lers display its great age.52Trees crowd in menacingly around still life of the Democritusby signing the scroll next to the rat the elaborately carved tomb, ruined wall, urn, and two obe- with his name. In my opinion, this can be interpretedas a gen- lisks, the latter symbolic of the glory of princes."5One is al- eral reference to his own literary activities and is reminiscent ready overthrown,and both are scarredand cracked,just as the of the vanitas of the arts still life in his large painting Fortune, reliefs of the urn and the block Democritusleans on are bat- now in the collection of the Duke of Beaufort (Fig. 10), which tered and worn. The humanskeleton in its molderingcoffin has shows brute beasts spurning and trampling on a palette and an obvious significance,54and is closely related in meaning to brushes, a laurel branch, papers, and a volume signed with the toppled obelisk immediately behind it. This obelisk not Rosa's monogram.48The pig sniffs at pearls and steps on a only symbolizes fallen glory in general terms, but because of rose blossom, the latter an additional reference to Rosa's its relief decorationsalso has a very particularmeaning which name.49The same floral symbolism may also be present in the can be understood only by reference to an illustration and still life of the Democritus,since there seem to be rose leaves explanationin Valeriano'sHieroglyphica (Fig. 11).55 Accord- and faint traces of a pink rose bud and white blossom near ing to that author,the obelisk stands for HumanaeVitae Con- the architecturalfragment. However, this is difficultto estab- ditio ("The condition of human life"), and the reliefs refer to lish definitelybecause of darkeningand loss in that area. human fragility, the baby's head above the old man's showing Finally, the scrap of paper beneath the scroll bears the the cycle of the decline from infancy to old age and return Greek letter omega, which as the last letter of the alphabet is again to childhood, the falcon representing God and that frequently used to symbolize the end and death, and is often which is divine in man, the fish symbolizinghatred and death, seen on tombs. and the hippopotamusdenoting shamelessness, violence, dis- On the other side of the composition the head of a pig, an cord, and consequentdeath. In the tree above, an owl, the bird animal that invariably stands for stupidity, gluttony, and in- of night, bad augury, and death, broods over these grim re- tractability,0oseems to jeer at the philosopher, while thistle mains.5" flourishes and grape leaves wither, and the eagle, the symbol Next to Democritusand in front of another tomb and fallen

47 Valeriano, Hieroglyphica, 100r, Imbecillitas. For other examples of mindedness, and is never associated with disagreeable qualities (Ripa, Rosa's use of this text see Wallace, "Genius," 475f. The obelisk will Iconologia, pt. 1, 88, 362f., pt. 2, 6f., 21, 30f., 140, 186, 204, 223). be discussed below. Valeriano, Hieroglyphica, 137r-143v, who by the nature of his study 48 1.98 x 1.33m; exhibited at the Pantheon in August, 1659; Salerno, was much more concerned with animals and their various meanings Rosa, 122, No. 36, and 45. F. Haskell, Patrons and Painters, New than Ripa, agrees with the latter in the main, citing the eagle as a York, 1963, 153f., discusses the picture's satirical implications at some symbol of Imperatoria Maiestas (138v-139r), Benignitas (139v), In- length. genium Velox and Alta Cogitatio (141v), but also mentions the eagle 49 Although it would appear that the artist did not explicitly make a as a bird of prey and a symbol of rapacity and related characteristics. connection between his name and the rose in his writings, the appro- It is in the latter sense that Rosa uses the live eagle in the Fortune. priateness and probable currency of the conceit in Rosa's time was 52 Ripa, Iconologia, pt. 2, 364f., "Vita Longa," and 361; Valeriano, clearly expressed by one of his acquaintances, Francesco Melosi, who Hieroglyphica, 55v; Boas, Horapollo, Bk. II, 89, No. 21, "A Long in a poem entitled Capitolo a Salvator Rosa wrote: "Ed in ci6 '1 Space of Time." vostro nome co l'effetto / S'accorda ben, poich?, dando qual rosa / 53 Ripa, Iconologia, pt. 1, 296-99, "Gloria de' Prencipi." For the associa- Aspre ponture, havete odor perfetto." (U. Limentani, "Salvator Rosa tion of ruins with ideas of vanitas and evanescence see Janson, nuovi studi e ricerche," Italian Studies, 8, 1953, 48) Oertel, "Ver- "Putto," 439; and E. Panofsky, "Et in Arcadia Ego, On the Concep- gainglichkeit,"108, also mentions the association of the artist's name tion of Transience in Poussin and Watteau," in Philosophy and His- with the flower in connection with what may be a portrait of Rosa tory, Essays Presented to Ernst Cassirer, Oxford, 1936, 245-47. A in the Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas. more general discussion of the landscape of ruins is found in A. R. 50 Although it was not necessary for Rosa to consult a learned text for Turner, The Vision of Landscape in Renaissance Italy, Princeton, this symbolism, it is nevertheless of interest that according to Ripa, 1966, 153-74, ch. 8, "In Ruinous Perfection." Iconologia, pt. 1, 151, 159, 300, 369, 375, pt. 2, 123f., the pig is always 54 See note 10 above. a symbol of bad qualities and never of good ones. Valeriano, Hiero- 55 Valeriano, Hieroglyphica, 218v-219r, who in turn bases his descrip- glyphica, 63r-70v, has equally unkind words for the pig, using him in tion on Plutarch Moralia: Isis and Osiris 363. See also Wallace, most cases to stand for bad things, among them Pernicies and Sen- "Genius," 476. sus Maxime Brutus (63v), Profanus (65r-65v), and Indocilitas (65v- 56 Ovid Metamorphoses 5. 542-50 describes the owl as a prophet of woe 66r), and finding him most agreeable when sacrificed. The pig in and a bird of evil omen to man; Ripa, Iconologia, pt. 1, 82, 94, 353f., Rosa's Fortune has the same significance. See also Boas, Horapollo, 356, pt. 2, 216f., uses the owl as a symbol of darkness and bad au- Bk. II, 92, No. 37. gury; and Valeriano, Hieroglyphica, 147v-148r, gives Mors as a major 51 Once again, the association of these qualities with the eagle seems significance of the owl. Rosa himself, in the satire Babilonia, says: to have been so widely accepted in the Renaissance and that "Cangierassi il tuo Giove in fier Saturno / E toccherai con man, che Rosa need not have consulted a particular source in this case either. '1 mio presaggio / Non fu di Gufo, o d'altro Augel Noturno." The strength of this tradition of meaning is reflected in Ripa, for (Cesareo, Poesie e lettere, I, 361, vv. 922-24) whom the eagle is always a symbol of nobility, loftiness, and high- d'?~j~~ai- .... :II i. L1;sl2 ?r

f~jg i??r ~?? ~~_ad?i ,r:'' ~ :: t ~

t ~ .r? .. t

: ?* 1 'D ::I 1~ ?i" ,r* "?li1 ir ~~r?_.e i ~:~" ~

B~?1

-rl.-;.e I?el-?n

1 ~

3 '

2

SALVATOR ROSA

1. Hermit, drawing. London, The British Museum (Courtesy of the Trustees) 3. Mr. Altham as a Hermit. Kingston Lacy, Wimborne, Dorset, Bankes Collec- tion (Courtesy of Mr. H. J. R. Bankes) 2. Self-Portrait with a Skull. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Bequest of Mary L. Harrison, 1921) 44,,

t X.

5

4

6

4. Domenico Fetti, Melancholy. Venice, Gallerie dell'Accademia 6. Frontispiece from Francois Perrier, Segmenta nobilium signorum et statu- arum quae temporis dentem invidium evasere, Rome, 1638 5. G. B. Castiglione, Melancholy, etching. London, The British Museum (Cour- tesy of the Trustees) jj

--It

lu.Zi

?~C~'ey

cAlio7-"

7

SALVATOR ROSA

7. Democritus in Meditation. Copenhagen, Statens Museum for Kunst 8. Democritus in Meditation, etching. Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe i . ~

i.1;

10

6

x x xx

xx x x

AX X :ccdC' / AnAn?M

DE K II 12ACC 'C C c 2MM 13

. .

9. Rosa, Democritus and Heraclitus, drawing. Haarlem, Teyler Museum 12. Finis (from Valeriano, Hieroglyphica, 1567, 291r)

10. Rosa, Fortune. (Courtesy of the Duke of Beaufort, Badminton, Gloucester- 13. Fine (from La novissima Iconologia di Cesare Ripa Perugino, Padua, 1625, shire) 250)

11. Humanae Vitae Conditio (from Valeriano, Hieroglyphica, 1567, 219r) Kl?- u

15''h-l :~iS.~~d l?:- ? ~ W;*Vt-~ .?

14

SALVATOR ROSA

14. L'Umana Fragilit&. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum 15. L'Umana Fragilit&, drawing. Leipzig, Museum der Bildenden Kiinste i *I I p l ?_W. /? ?rib 7-io5,:,"'~ ,'

-rj

4-7 ? i ~ k'4' to;; fwi

i__

;:':: " "0" .Pr . > '..

18

16. Johann Heinrich Sch6nfeld, Democritus in Meditation, etching. Boston, Mu- 18. Joseph Wright of Derby, Democritus Studying Anatomy. Derby, Museum seum of Fine Arts (Harvey D. Parker Collection) and Art Gallery

17. G. B. Tiepolo, A Seated Magician Looking at Skulls, etching. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum SALVATOR ROSA 27

obelisk appearsTerminus, the god of boundaries,the end, and left hand, both as symbols of "fine.""1He stands for the end also of death."5He appropriatelywears a crown of funerary and death, among other things, and corresponds nicely with cypress similar to the one seen in the Self-Portrait with a the "fine" of the etching's inscription. It is noteworthy that Skull. It is noteworthy that in the etching his bandoleer in- Ripa has him wear a crown of ivy as a symbol of age and ruin. cludes ivy, a symbol of decay and ruin (among other things) because it creeps over old walls, buildings, and trees and helps Another of Rosa's ambitious figure pictures, L'UmanaFra- to destroy them."5The smoking tripod at the extreme left of gilits in the FitzwilliamMuseum, Cambridge (Fig. 14),62 is close the painting is well suited to the macabresetting and calls to to the Democritusin style and in theme, and like it makes use mind the verses quoted earlier, "the worlds are dust, their of a variety of objects and props symbolic of death and eva- pomps a nothing, and human pride a smoke, a worm."59 nescence. The close association of the two paintings is seen The etching contains an addition that is of considerable especially in the repetition of the owl, cypress-crownedTer- importance, a stone plaque next to Democritus which is in- minus, and carved obelisk in L'UmanaFragilitA, where they cised with a large omega and several smallerM's. Once again, have essentially the same iconographicalsignificance as they its basic explanationcan be found in Valeriano,who describes did in the Democritus. and illustrates a pyramidof ten M's as a symbol of Finis (Fig. Furthermore,L'Umana Fragilita also shows strong and even 12).60 Valeriano states that ten M's represent ten thousand, more direct connections to Diirer's Melencolia I, as seen most which is the perfect, finished number, the product of the mul- convincingly in a preparatorydrawing for the painting now tiplication of the dimensions of the pyramid of Egypt, which in the Museum der BildendenKiinste, Leipzig (Fig. 15).6" The he says is one hundred feet on each side. The omega repeats drawing is clearly a variation on Rosa's earlier painting La the omega of the painting's scroll and has, as the last letter of Filosofia,now in the EnzenbergCollection, Palazzo Enzenberg, the alphabet, the same significance.Although Rosa could cer- Caldaro, Bolzano, for which no good photograph is avail- tainly have made the association of the M's with an omega able."4Not only does the seated woman in La Filosofiarepeat without referring to a particularsource, it seems more likely Diirer's figure almost exactly, but the putto who sits next to that he knew and used the later editions of Cesare Ripa's her and holds a book is also a repetition,albeit a freer one, of Iconologia, which describe and illustrate "Fine" (Fig. 13) as a the scribbling putto in Melencolia I. The Leipzig drawing in seated old man who holds a pyramid of ten M's in his right turn follows the composition of La Filosofiavery closely. The hand (Valerianois properly cited and quoted almost verbatim winged skeleton repeats almost exactly the posture and ges- in the Ripa explanation)and a rectanglewith an omega in his ture of the old philosopher in the painting, and they both

57 Because of the context in which this figure is placed, its cypress 59 See note 26 above. Smoke as a symbol of evanescence will be dis- crown, and its repetition as a symbol in the painting L'Umana Fra- cussed in greater detail below in connection with the painting gilitA, it is clear that Rosa intended it as more than a decorative L'UmanaFragilitk. herm. A Terminus figure very similar to the one in the painting is 60 Valeriano, Hieroglyphica, 291r-291v. illustrated in Andrea Alciati, Emblemata, Lyons, 1593, 561, Emblema 61 I use the 1625 Padua edition, La novissima Iconologia di Cesare CLVII,and discussed at some length as a symbol of death (pp. 561-63). Ripa Perugino, 249-52. The text and illustration are repeated exactly See E. Wind, "Aenigma Termini," JWarb, 1, 1937-38, 66-69, for a in the 1630 Padua edition, 265-68. The illustrator has shown only study of Erasmus' use of Terminus as a personal emblem, and its eight of the ten M's specifically mentioned by Ripa, apparently be- association with death symbolism. See also W. Stechow, "Homo cause of space limitations. Bulla," AB, 20, 1938, 228; Bialostocki, "Rembrandt's 'Terminus,"' 62 1.99 x 1.33m; signed with the monogram SR on the knife blade. 49-60. Salerno, Rosa, 110f., No. xv, 44f., 50f.; Italian Art and Britain, 58 This significance is mentioned by Ripa, Iconologia, pt. 1, 22, "Ambi- 164f., No. 404, catalogue entry by D. Mahon. A drawing with very tione," 377, "Ingratitudine," and is discussed at length by Valeriano, slight differences from the painting is now in the collection of Mr. Hieroglyphica, 377v-378r. Rosa himself made a specific reference to F. H. M. Fitzroy Newdegate, Arbury Hall, Warwickshire, exhibited this symbolism in the satire Tirreno: "A che d'Ellere, e Allor cincersi Neapolitan Baroque and Rococo Painting, Bowes Museum, Barnard il crine? / Si amaro &il Lauro? e l'Edere pudiche / Han si gran Castle, County Durham, 1962, No. 49. simpatia con le rovine?" (Cesareo, Poesie e lettere, I, 374, vv. 220-22) 63 7457.66; 20 x 17.2cm; inscribed at the lower left, "a Chigi." I owe my As a plant sacred to Bacchus, ivy is most frequently used as a poetic knowledge of this drawing to M. Mahoney, "The Drawings of Salva- crown, a tradition Rosa here refers to. In addition, it is often a sym- tor Rosa," unpubl. diss., Courtauld Institute of Art, University of bol of tenacity and diligence because of its persistent creeping and London, 1965, 290f., No. 48.1. climbing, a meaning with which the destructive quality of the plant is 64 See note 22 above. usually closely associated. See Alciati, Emblemata, 704-7, Emblema ccim; Ripa, Iconologia, pt. 1, 4f., 52, 257f., pt. 2, 77, 145, 299; Wallace, "Genius," 480. 28 TheArt Bulletin

stand in precisely the same relation to the seated woman. Her frieze-like grouping parallel to the picture plane, and stresses pose in the drawing has been altered slightly by raising her horizontal and especially vertical elements in the composi- head and changing the position of her hands, making her a tion.65Unlike the Democritus,many of the picture'scolors are more extroverted figure. The Diirer-like putto who holds a light and delicate, tending toward pastels. The seated woman book in La Filosofiais shifted to the other side of the composi- has a lovely light blue skirt touched with white, a white blouse tion in the drawing and is reversed so that he faces back into that matches the wrappings of the child she holds, an orange- the center. However, the drawing also has several features red scarf of a light texture that trails over her shoulder, and a which suggest that Rosa may have taken a fresh look at Melen- crown of pink roses. The putto blowing bubbles wears a gauzy colia I in doing this preparatorystudy for L'UmanaFragilita. loin cloth of blue, his companionwears a light shirt of white, The posture of the putto seems closer in the drawing to that and the thistle plant in front of them has a light purple bud of Diirer's putto than it does in La Filosofia, and the hour- and a white blossom. Despite this range of colors, the picture glass, not seen in the painting, suggests a direct connection is as solemn as the Democritus,and the loveliness of the hues with the Diirer print as well. is threatenedand made to seem sickly by the grimness of the Without the intermediariesof Rosa's Leipzig drawing and setting in which they are placed. The chief menace is of course La Filosofia,a connection between Melencolia I and L'Umana the winged figure of Death, whose gray-brown wings and Fragilitf would be difficultto establish.But even in its finished brown skull and skeleton stand out eerily in the raking light, state Rosa's painting shows definitereminiscences of the Diirer which gives them glistening highlights. Browns and grays are print, especiallyin the seated woman with her prominentfloral also predominant in the ground and in the objects against crown and the writing child, who moreover needs help with which the figures are foiled, the cradle,the obelisk, the Termi- his letters just as Diirer's putto is incapableof more than aim- nus, and the owl who gazes out at the viewer with red-rimmed less scribbling.It is also tempting to see a connectionbetween eyes. Diirer's sphere and Rosa's, and between the knife in the fore- The complexity of the picture's iconography so intrigued ground of L'UmanaFragilita and the saw in a similarposition Baldinucci that it moved him to write a rather detailed and in the Diirer print. extremelyhelpful explanationof the painting'smeaning: Like the Democritus,L'Umana Fragilita transforms Diirer's unique, complex, and subtle artistic and philosophical state- Cardinal Chigi had one of his pictures, larger than eight ment into a typically Baroque vanitas painting that stresses palmi, where Human Frailty is represented,a lovely damsel evanescenceand death. It also has somber and disturbinglight garlandedwith roses and sitting on a globe of glass, and she effects appropriateto this subject matter, but is less ruggedly holds a child seated on her knees. There is Death with be- picturesqueand more classically restrainedthan the Democri- draggledwings who makes the child write the constitution of tus. The artist concentrateson his figures to the exclusion of human life, that is the words Nasci poena, vita labor, necesse a landscape setting, arranges them in a shallow space in a mori; a conceit expressed by his great friend Giovanni Bat-

Rinal- 65 For a discussion of classicizing tendencies in Rosa's art see Salerno, which had not yet reached him, in a letter of July 6, 1652 (De not Rosa, 48f.; Mahoney, "Rosa's Saint Humphrey,"55f., 59; R. W. Wal- dis, Lettere inedite, 37, No. 22). Salerno, Rosa, 110f., No. xv, is lace, "Salvator Rosa's Death of Atilius Regulus," BurlM, 109, 1967, certain that Ricciardi's poem itself was Rosa's source, and Oertel, 395-97. "Vergainglichkeit,"119 n. 36, thinks that the poem was written about 66 Baldinucci, Delle notizie, 13. I can offer no plausible explanation for the picture and states that the question of whether or not Ricciardi Baldinucci'suse of the word Jole. suggested the phrase to Rosa must remain open. Mahon, in Italian 67 As Professor F. Wormald has discovered (cited in Italian Art and Art and Britain, 164f., No. 404, feels that Ricciardi had probably dis- Britain, 164), the lines are an exact quotation from a poem known as covered the basic text and used it for his poem, thereby transmitting the most reasonable "'pitaphe d'Adam." According to L. Gautier, Oeuvres poetiques the concept to Rosa. The latter seems to be view, d'Adam de Saint-Victor, 3rd ed., Paris, 1894, 229-31, it was not not only because the scholar Ricciardi would have been much more originally intended by the author as his epitaph but was used as such likely than Rosa to come upon the poetry of Adam of Saint-Victor, after his death, and only the first ten of the poem's fourteen lines but also because of chronological considerations. It has usually been are without doubt Adam himself (Rosa's quotation is from lines thought that the picture was done about 1652, the year Ricciardi sent by is three and four). Gautier points out that the poem was reproducedin a his poem to Rosa, and that the cardinal to whom Baldinucci refers number of manuscripts and printed books, including Les recherches Fabio Chigi, who was elected Pope Alexander VII in 1655. However, de la France of Estienne Pasquier. This very popular book was pub- the iconography of the picture suggests that it may have been done lished in no fewer than fifteen editions between 1560 and 1643. See after 1655, since Baldinucci is correct in associating the putto who D. Thickett, Bibliographie des oeuvres d'Estienne Pasquier (Travaux burns tow fastened to a distaff with a ceremony repeated three times d'Humanisme et Renaissance, xxi), Geneva, 1956, 32-44. during the coronation of a new pope, in which tow fastened to the top of a silver staff is while the words Pater sancte, sic transit 68 Cesareo, Poesie e lettere, II, 143. Rosa thanked his friend for the poem, ignited SALVATOR ROSA 29

tisti Ricciardiin a moralizingpoem dedicatedto Rosa in these as seen in the Democritus and other paintings, and can also verses: "Rosa, being born is pain, living is toil, and dying a be generally associated with established sepulchral symbol- fatal necessity." At the feet of the damsel is seen a cradle ism." In addition, his use of an active, winged skeleton is where there are two children,one raising himself up, the other strongly reminiscentof Bernini's funerary monuments, espe- leaning on the edge of the cradle: the latter blowing into a cially the Tomb of Urban VIII, where, as R. Wittkower says, little reed sends out soap bubbles, while the other sets fire to "Berninieven turned the old impersonalsymbol of the skull, some tow which hangs from a distaff, a ceremony customary used on countless tombs of the sixteenth and early seventeenth at the investiture of a new pope. There is finally a pyramid centuries, into an active personificationof Death writing Ur- with various hieroglyphics,a Jole, a rocket or firecracker,along ban's name into a large book."70 with othersymbols, all alludingto HumanFrailty."6 The mother, the helpless child's only protection and secu- rity, is seated, ironically, on the unstable sphere of Fortune.71 The picture announces its theme with the inscription cited, The theme of fickle and hostile Fortune, so popular in the not quite completely, by Baldinucci.The scroll on which the troubled and unsettled seventeenth century, was also in great child writes says Conceptio Culpa, Nasci Pena, Labor Vita, favor with Rosa, who seems to have been naturally inclined Necesse Mori ("Conceptionis sin, birth is pain, life is toil, toward protest and complaint.The subject appearsfrequently death inevitable"), a phrase that has its origin in what would in his writings and was treated in two of his paintings. One seem to be a rather out-of-the-way source for Rosa, the writ- of them, perhaps the most famous, or notorious, of all his ings of the twelfth century poet Adam of Saint-Victor (d. works, was the pictorialsatire mentioned earlier,which shows 1192).67 It was in all likelihood brought to Rosa's attention Fortuneseated on a sphere pouring out symbols of wealth and by the learned Ricciardi,who in fact used a very similar pas- position before animals (Fig. 10). The other painting is now sage in a canzone dedicated to Rosa that contains the verses, known only through an anonymous engraving, in which For- also mentionedby Baldinucci,"Rosa, il nascere e pena, / Il vi- tune is shown seated on a rolling sphere accompaniedby three vere e fatica, / Et il morir necessita fatale" ("Rosa, being born putti, in a compositionthat is quite similarto that of L'Umana is pain, living is toil, and dying a fatal necessity").68 Fragilitai.72To emphasize further the fragility of the mother's The presiding genius of the picture is Death, shown as a seat, the sphere is made of glass, calling to mind aspects of winged skeleton whose grinning and malevolent mixing in the iconographyof "Miseriamondana" (EarthlyMisery), de- the affairs of mankind calls to mind prints of the Dance of scribed by Ripa as a woman with her head inside a sphere of Death, especially Holbein's woodcuts. He forms a grim con- glass that symbolizes the vanity and fragility of life and trast to the innocence of the mother and child and the playful worldly aspirationsand achievements.Rosa's use of this con- putti, and dictates the despairingtheme of the pictureby guid- ceit here is also reminiscent of several verses from the same ing the child's writing hand. Rosa's pictorial interpretationof Ricciardi poem cited earlier in connection with the inscrip- Death expresses his own strong interest in macabre imagery tion: "The steps of Life move in the wake of the hearse, beat-

gloria mundi are chanted (Enciclopedia cattolica, Vatican, 1951, vI, above. 1781). In view of this rather unusual and very particular symbolic fea- 70 R. Wittkower, , 2nd ed., London, 1966, 21, also ture, it seems extremely probable that Rosa intended the painting for 22, 198f., No. 30, pl. 49, and esp. pl. 58. For other examples of Ber- the Chigi family and meant it to have a specific reference to the fam- nini's use of active winged skeletons as Death see 210f., No. 43, figs. ily's leading member, Pope Alexander VII. If this is the case, Baldi- 54f., the Tomb of Alessandro Valtrini and the Memorial to Ippolito nucci's Cardinal Chigi could not have been Fabio, and in fact Salerno, Merenda; 259f., No. 77, pls. 122, 126, and 22f., the Tomb of Alexan- Rosa, 110f., No. xv, suggests that the picture belonged instead to Fa- der VII. bio's nephew, Cardinal Flavio Chigi, and has discovered that a picture 71 For this iconography see Alciati, Emblemata, 357-60, Emblema called La Vita Umana is listed as part of Flavio's collection in an in- xcvin; Ripa, Iconologia, pt. 1, 238, 250; Valeriano, Hieroglyphica, ventory begun in 1658. It therefore seems very likely that the picture 288r-288v; R. Wittkower, "Chance, Time and Virtue," JWarb, 1, was done after 1655 and followed, rather than inspired, Ricciardi's 1937-38, 318f.; and E. Panofsky, The Iconography of Correggio's Canzone morale of 1652. I am very grateful to Prof. George Williams Camera di San Paolo, London, 1961, 58f. Salerno, Rosa, 44, notes of the Harvard Divinity School for his advice on the question of the use of Fortune symbolism here. papal ceremony discussed here. 72 Gabinetto Nazionale dei Disegni e delle Stampe, Rome, Colloc. 40-H- 69 Bones and skeletons appear prominently in Rosa's Witch Scene in 33, Inv. No. 51728. Published by L. Ozzola, "Pitture di Salvator Rosa the collection of the Earl Spencer, Althorp, Northampton, and Saul sconosciute o inedite," BdA, 5, 1925-26, 29, fig. 3. As Ozzola points and the Witch of Endor in the Louvre (Salerno, Rosa, 109, Nos. x, out, the engraving agrees very closely with Baldinucci's description xr, and 113, No. xxiv respectively); the Witch Scene in the Galleria of the original (Delle notizie, 28). See also Salerno, Rosa, 151. Corsini, Florence, and the Temptation of St. Anthony in the Galleria Pitti, Florence (both cited by Salerno, Rosa, 142). See also note 10 30 TheArt Bulletin

ing without pause upon the gravestone with feet of glass. At an image that calls to mind the words of Isaiah 43:17, "they last [Life] dies.. ."I7 are extinct, they are quenched as tow," and also the phrase The roses that garlandthe woman's head can be interpreted used in the papal coronation ceremony mentioned by Baldi- as the flowers of Venus, symbols of youth, love, and gracious- nucci and discussed above, Pater sancte, sic transit gloria ness, and also--of chief importancein this context--as em- mundi.78Rosa's use of fleeting smoke here as a sign of eva- blems of fragility and "vita breve" because they blossom and nescence is also reminiscentof the smoking pipes, candles, and begin to fade in the same day.74It also seems quite possible lamps frequentlyused in vanitas paintings, and is seen in the that Rosa here intended the roses to be a general reference to smoking tripod of the Democritusas well. his own name, a practice discussed earlier in relation to the The putto stands in a somber cradle, bringing to mind a painting Fortune.75 verse from the satire Poesia, "Indeed,he will have cradle and The crown of roses finds both a contrast and a complement tomb, in a single day," and the verses from Tirreno already in the wreath of funerary cypress worn by the Terminus. In quoted: "In this comic fiction which attracts and beguiles us addition, while the roses wither, a thistle with sturdy spiky and which is called life, the cradle is for us the prologue to leaves flourishesand puts forth a light purplebud and a white tragedy.""79 blossom. The thistle is also found in the Democritus and Mr. The butterflies fluttering above the crib and next to the Altham as a Hermit,and is generally thought of as a disagree- knee of Death are almost lost in the complexities of the pic- able plant often associatedwith decay and ruin. But its use by ture, but are nevertheless of central importance.They are, of Rosa can probablybe best explainedby reference,once again, course, well-known symbols of the soul, a traditional signifi- to Valeriano, who lists ImbecillitasHumana ("human weak- cance referred to by Rosa in several verses from the satire ness") as its first meaning in his discussion of the plant.7" He Invidia: "But at last emerging from the horrid vale, I saw a says that this is because as soon as the thistle puts forth its bright splendoraround which all great souls would fain be but- purple flower in the midst of its spines, the blossom turns terflies."80 white and dry and any puff of wind can blow it away, just as The knife that lies in the center foregroundquite naturally our hopes flee us and are vain, and the slightest cause can evokes ideas of violence, pain, and death. Like the rocket, it is cost men their lives. intriguing because it seems to be a rather rare iconographical This symbol of evanescenceis echoed in the bubbles blown implement. The only reference to a knife used as a symbol I by the putto, who wears, ironically, a miniaturelaurel crown, have found in the sources generally used by Rosa is in Ripa's a well-known symbol of immortalfame.77 His companion ig- Iconologia,where it is used as an attributeof "Morte,"death, nites a bunch of tow fastened to a distaff which, like the rocket a meaning that fits the picture perfectly.8s In addition, the at the woman's feet, flares briefly only to die out immediately, knife here is signed on the blade with Rosa's monogram,and

73 Ripa, Iconologia, pt. 2, 46. In addition, Ripa's personification of tradition see Ripa, Iconologia, pt. 1, 253, "Fragilit&Humana"; Valeri- "Fragilit&"holds a large glass vase suspended on a thread (pt. 1, ano, Hieroglyphica, 301v, Humana Fragilitas; Panofsky, "Et in 253). Ricciardi's poem is found in Cesareo, Poesie e lettere, iI, 138: Arcadia Ego" (Cassirer), 241; idem, Studies in Iconology, 93; Janson, "Nel sentier del Fer&tro/ Muove di vita il passo / E della tomba al "Putto," 446f.; Stechow, "Homo Bulla," 227f.; Weber, Aspects of sasso / Batte, ni resta mai, con pie di vetro. / Muore alle fine . ." Death, 524-26; B. Knipping, De Iconografievan de Contra-Reformatie (see note 68 above). in de Nederlanden, 1939, I, 117f.; and R. Wittkower, "Death and Res- 74 Not only were flowers in general frequently used as symbols of urrection in a Picture by Marten de Vos," in Miscellanea Leo van evanescence in the 17th century and earlier (see Bergstram, Dutch Puyvelde, Brussels, 1949, 117-23. Still-Life Painting, esp. 154f., 214; K. Bauch, "Zur Ikonographie von 78 See note 68 above. Caravaggios Frtihwerken,"in Kunstgeschichtliche Studien fiar Hans 79 Cesareo, Poesie e lettere, I, 201, v. 379, "Anzi havr&Cuna e tomba, Kauffmann, Berlin, 1956, 255-59; idem, Der Frithe Rembrandt, 21), in un sol giorno," and 380, vv. 323f., respectively. See note 26 above. but in addition, the rose was considered to be especially appropriate 80 Ibid., 1, 285, vv. 37-39: "Ma superata al fin l'orrida Valle, / Vidi un as a symbol of fragility because of the blossom's great beauty but chiaro splendor, di cui desiano / Tutte l'Anime grandi esser farfalle." very short life (Ripa, Iconologia, pt. 2, 361-64, "Vita Breve"; Valeri- 81 Ripa, Iconologia, pt. 2, 70. ano, Hieroglyphica, 399r-400r, Imbecillitas Humana; Bergstrom, 82 Salerno, Rosa, 110f., No. xv, 44f., 50f. Dutch Still-Life Painting, 154; Weber, Aspects of Death, 533-34). 83 See Johann Heinrich Schanfeld, Bilder, Zeichnungen, Graphik (exhib. Salerno, Rosa, 44, and Oertel, "Vergainglichkeit,"110f., 108, note this cat.), Ulm, 1967, 39f., No. 52, pl. 53 for the painting; 99, No. 191, pl. symbolic significance of the woman's crown. 196 for the etching (A. Andresen, Der deutsche Peintre-graveur, Leip- 75 See note 49 above. zig, 1878, v, 74f., No. 2); and 80, No. 138, pl. 142 for a related draw- 76 Valeriano, Hieroglyphica, 403r. ing. This source dates Schoinfeld'spainting about contemporary with 77 Salerno, Rosa, 44, and Oertel, "Verglinglichkeit," 110, mention the his etching, and notes that both were inspired by Rosa's painting. I bubbles as symbols of fragility and vanitas. For this iconographical am very grateful to Miss Eleanor A. Sayre of the Museum of Fine SALVATOR ROSA 31

it may be that the artist intended it as a personal reference. association with Rosa can be made much more specific, how- Salerno has suggested that the knife may symbolize violent ever, since ScherzoNo. 5, A Seated MagicianLooking at Skulls separation from a loved one, specifically Rosa's son Rosalvo, (Fig. 17),87 is much like Rosa's etching Democritus (Fig. 8), not and Rosa's brother, who both died of the plague in 1656, only in its general composition and picturesque setting, but shortly before, in Salerno'sopinion, the picturewas painted.82 also in such particularsas the still-life group with a book and large skulls almost identical with Rosa's, a very similar owl, The somber moodiness and macabre picturesquenessseen who moreover perches on what seems to be a human skull, in these works by Rosa are among the most distinctive and the projectingbone on top of the large roundmonument which original aspects of his style, and were of great interest to later is much like the bone protrudingfrom the urn in the Democ- generations, especially in England. The Democritus was par- ritus, and the small animal skull on the monument which is ticularly influential,not only because it was widely known as very similar to the skull behind the fish skeleton in the Rosa an etching, but also because it is as startlingly dramaticas any print. Furthermore,Scherzo No. 22, Two Magiciansand a Boy, work in Rosa's oeuvre. Johann Heinrich Schbnfeld responded shows a resemblanceto the Democritus (albeit more general to Rosa's painting almost immediately,and well before Rosa's than that seen in Scherzo No. 5), and repeats the cow skull, etching was done, with his own painting of the same subject, the large inverted animal skull, the owl in the tree, the fish now in the Georg SchliferCollection, Schweinfurt,and with a skeleton, and the small proximate animal skull of the Rosa very similar etching dated 1654 (Fig. 16), both of which are etching almost exactly.88 markedly dependent on Rosa's Democritus in theme, compo- Finally, Joseph Wright of Derby's interest in Rosa's work sition, and macabre symbolism.83Another early reaction is is well known, and his A Grotto in the found in a vanitas painting by the Dutch artist Matthias Wit- with Banditti: a Sunset demonstrateshis enthusiasm for the hoos (1627-1703), now in a Stockholm private collection, romance of Rosa's landscapes and for Rosa's native Naples.89 which omits the figure of Democritusbut borrows the general Wright of Derby's Democritus Studying Anatomy (Fig. 18) setting and a number of specific details from Rosa's composi- now in the Derby Museum and Art Gallery is a further reflec- tion, and has something of the same mood.84 tion of this interest, and almost certainly depends in large Perhaps the most interesting response to Rosa's Democritus measure on Rosa's etching.90Wright's picture gives full ex- is seen in the splendid Scherzi di Fantasia etching series of pression to the romanticismimplicit in Rosa's Democritus,and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. The influenceof Castiglione'setch- it occupies an importantplace in the beginnings of the roman- ings on those of Tiepolo has been pointed out,85 and Rosa tic period, when-because of such works as the Democritus, has also been mentioned in very general terms as a possible L'Umana Fragilit&,and Mr. Altham as a Hermit-Salvator source for the bizarre subject matter of the Scherzi.86The Rosa was to have his greatestfame. Wellesley College

Arts, Boston, for calling the Schi*nfeldetching to my attention. Knox, Tiepolo Drawings, 61f., No. 109v and 23-25. 84 Bergstrim, Dutch Still-Life Painting, 184-87, ill. 186. This author 89 B. Nicolson, Joseph Wright of Derby (exhib. cat.), London, 1958, feels that Withoos was probably influenced by the painting more 22-24, No. 16, pl. vr. Nicolson notes the close connection of this pic- than the etching, and points out that he was in Italy when the ture to Rosa's work (citing C. E. Buckley, "An English Landscape by Democritus was exhibited at the Pantheon in 1651. Oertel, "Ver- Joseph Wright of Derby," AQ, 18, 1955, 266), and points out that ginglichkeit," 118 n. 33, and A. P. de Mirimonde, "Mors Omnia Wright actually saw two paintings of Banditti by Rosa in Naples and Vincit de Mathieu Witthoos," Oud Holland, 73, 1958, 111, think mentioned them with approval in his Italian diary. It is noteworthy that Withoos could have seen the painting but probably relied chiefly that the figures in the Grotto are very close to Rosa types in general on the etching, an opinion that I share. appearance and feeling, and the seated central figure and the dra- 85 T. Pignatti, Le acqueforti dei Tiepolo, Florence, 1965, 6, 11f. See also matically pointing figure seated on his right seem to be based spe- G. Knox, Catalogue of the Tiepolo Drawings in the Victoria and cifically on Rosa's etching The Dream of Aeneas, Bartsch 23, illus- Albert Museum, London, 1960, 22, for some observations about trated in Salerno, Rosa, 130, No. 67c. Tiepolo's interest in Castiglione's work, and pp. 23-26 for a general 90 Nicolson, Wright of Derby, 18f., No. 11, pl. uI, dates it 1771-73, and discussion of subject matter in the Scherzi and Capricci. observes that it was done before the Rosa painting arrived in England 86 Pignatti, Acqueforti, 11. (it was there from approximately 1806 to 1935) but says that Rosa's 87 A. De Vesme, Le peintre-graveur italien, Milan, 1906, 386, No. 17; etching "has too many points in common with Wright's picture for Pignatti, Acqueforti, xvii. See also Knox, Tiepolo Drawings, 64, Nos. the resemblance to be brushed aside as fortuitous." See also B. Nicol- 124, 123, and 23, 26. The original Democritus painting was also in son, "Joseph Wright's Early Subject Pictures," BurlM, 96, 1954, 79; Venice at the time Tiepolo did the Scherzi, owned by the descendents R. Rosenblum, "Wright of Derby: Gothick Realist," Art News, 59, of Niccol6 Sagredi, the original purchaser. Olsen, Italian Paintings, March, 1960, 27, 54. 85f.; Salerno, Rosa, 110, No. xxxi. 88 De Vesme, Peintre-graveur, 391, No. 34; Pignatti, Acqueforti, xxxIv; 32 The Art Bulletin

BIBLIOGRAPHYOF FREQUENTLYCITED SOURCES

Bergstri5m,I., Dutch Still-Life Painting in the Seventeenth Century, Lon- Janson, H. W., "The Putto with the Death's Head," AB, 19, 1937, 423- don, 1956. 449. Cesareo, G. A., Poesie e lettere edite e inedite di Salvator Rosa, Naples, Oertel, R., "Die Vergainglichkeitder Kiinste," Miinchlb, 1963, 105-120. 1892. Ripa, Cesare, Iconologia, Siena, 1613. De Rinaldis, A., Lettere inedite di Salvator Rosa a G. B. Ricciardi, Rome, Salerno, L., Salvator Rosa, Milan, 1963. 1939. Valeriani, loannis Pierii, Hieroglyphica, Basel, 1567. Italian Art and Britain (Winter Exhibition,1960, Royal Academy of Arts), Wallace, R. W., "The Genius of Salvator Rosa," AB, 47, 1965, 471-480. 2nd ed., London, 1960.