Pythagoras and the Fisherman
by ROSA, Salvator, Oil on canvas, 132 x 188 cm
Salvator Rosa was quirky and original, as well known for his writing as for his painting. He was among the most popular painters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when his literary, picturesque approach affirmed the latest art theories. Pythagoras and the Fisherman - one of two canvases from the life of the philosopher, the other, Pythagoras Emerging from the Underworld, being in the Kimball Art Museum, Fort Worth - shows what a fine colourist and dramatist Rosa could be when painting at his best.