Two Standing Men Gesticulating
1615–73
Medium
Pen and brown ink. Pen scribbles on verso are indistinctly visible on recto
Dimensions
5-1/4 x 3-1/16 in. (13.3 x 7.7 cm) (irregular)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1960
Accession Number
60.66.13
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Two Standing Men Gestic** by Salvator Rosa (1615–1673) is a lively pen and brown ink drawing that captures two figures in animated conversation. Measuring just 5-1/4 x 3-1/16 inches (13.3 x 7.7 cm), its irregular edges and small scale suggest it was a spontaneous sketch, possibly a study for a larger composition. Faint pen scribbles from the verso faintly show through, adding a layer of tactile intrigue to this intimate work from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, gifted by Harry G. Friedman in 1960. Rosa, a prominent Italian Baroque artist from Naples, was ren...
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...