Salvator Rosa
Italian, 1615-1673
The Crucifixion of Polycrates
INV-4520
Salvator Rosa
Italian, 1615-1673c. 1662
The Crucifixion of Polycrates
Salvator Rosa Italian, 1615-1673 →etchingprint
Date
c. 1662
Medium
Etching, with drypoint, in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 47 × 72.8 cm (18 9/16 × 28 11/16 in.); Sheet: 52.6 × 77 cm (20 3/4 × 30 3/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
John H. Wrenn Memorial Endowment
Salvator Rosa was an important printmaker as well as an admired painter. The artist’s oversize etching of the Greek Polycrates’ crucifixion by his Persian enemy (c. 522 b.c.) probably preceded his painting of the same subject. Rosa’s slightly simplified painting appears in reverse, likely because he worked from the print’s preparatory cartoon to create it. The legend beneath the print reads: “Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, famous for his wealth and good fortune, when he was captured by Oretes, Satrap of the Persians, and fastened on a cross, showed that no man can be truly called happy until he is dead.”
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