Salvator Rosa 1778

Editor: This print, titled "Salvator Rosa," is by John Hamilton Mortimer. Made sometime in the 1700s, it portrays a ragged figure studying a drawing. What do you make of it? Curator: Considering Mortimer's era, the image performs a kind of artistic and cultural hero worship. Note the strategic placement of armor, implying the subject’s military past. How does this romanticized portrayal speak to the prevailing social values of that time? Editor: I suppose they liked a man with a story! So, it is less about Salvator Rosa, and more about how people perceived artists then? Curator: Precisely! The print elevates Rosa, aligning artistic genius with rugged individualism, feeding into the burgeoning cult of the artist in society. Editor: That’s fascinating, I hadn't considered that.