ATTRIBUTED TO SALVATOR ROSA | ALLEGORY OF THE ARTS

On the basis of photographs, Riccardo Lattuada, to whom we are grateful, has suggested that this intriguing painting of a stoic allegorical figure is a youthful work by Salvator Rosa, datable to circa 1630-1635. During these years, the young Neapolitan born Rosa, along with his brother-in-law, Francesco Francanzano, joined the circle of Jusepe de Ribera, who at the time was the foremost artist in Naples and known to have rendered a number of portraits of philosophers from Antiquity. Also at this young age, Rosa traveled back and forth between Naples and his future home of Rome, where he likely became acquainted with works of artists such as Pier Francesco Mola, whose diverse oeuvre also included likenesses of Ancient literary figures.