Sketches of Turbanned Men (recto); Fragment of a Figure and Sketches of Foliated Architectural Ornament (verso)
n.d.
Medium
Pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash (recto and verso), on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
20.6 × 14.8 cm (8 1/8 × 5 7/8 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
113514
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Although the author of this small sheet is not confirmed, his flair for the exotic is apparent not only in the fantastic oriental headdresses he documented, but in the ferocious, painterly way he used the simple medium of pen and ink, which comes very close to the romantic figures of Salvator Rosa, the Neapolitan master.
About the Artist
Salvator Rosa · 1615–1673
Salvator Rosa was born in 1615 in Arenella, on the outskirts of Naples, into a world of artistic ambition and turbulent talent. His early training came through his maternal uncle, the painter Paolo Greco, and his brother-in-law Francesco Fracanzano, himself a pupil of the great Spanish-born Neapolitan master Jusepe de Ribera. Rosa showed a fierce independence from the start, resisting his father's...