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Details
ROSA, Salvator (1615-1673). Unpublished autograph letter signed ('Amico Vero S.R.') to an unidentified correspondent ('Amico Carissimo', probably Giovanni Battista Ricciardi), Rome, 19 March 1668, 5 pages, 4to, (the first 4 pages written on a bifolium, the 5th on a separate leaf).
A long and entertaining letter to a close friend (in Pisa), whose letters of March 2nd and 9th Rosa has received, mentioning a recent meeting with Ludovico (Maffei?), complaining of his misfortunes including his failing eyesight, 'son ridotto à non poter leggere che co' gli occhiali ... e volendo far senz'essi mi bisogna tenere il foglio un braccio lontano da gli occhi'. An indignant and comical account follows of a visit from the police ('sbiri') and a notary, acting on the instructions of one Romagnolo, 'il qualo mosso da uno zelo indiscreto senza dar quartiero a nessuno feci preffettare quanti cocubini li furono portati alla milizia e fra questi vi fu incluso ancor io .... Mi mando una sera un notaro con alcuni sbiri ma perché non poterno entrar in casa senza bassare più d'una volta, e farmi intendere ch'era la Corte, diedi tempo alla Signora Lucrezia di solvarsi in una casa contiera'.
Rosa describes somewhat boastfully his spurning of invitations from Paris (i.e. from Louis XIV) conveyed through the ambassador, and the favourable terms he has secured, 'son cosi perfettamente o per dir meglio confirmato nel odio de i Re e massime de i Re de i miei tempi. Che la meno risposta che ho dato a questo Imbasciatore e stato l'offerir ... a far una Pittura il mese [?] se voleva venire in Roma a d'essere mio Camerata e che dicesse al Re da mia parte che la pittura può Vantare il suo Diogene, a segno che l'Imbasciatore parti innamorato del mio genio. Ma non già io del suo dal quale ho cavato due cento doblini con stupore di tutta la corta di Roma, e i medesimi francesi mi chiamano il Salvatore de i Miracoli .... Bastandomi il fracasso che son sicuro che faranno in quel Cielo i tre quadri che mi condemna [?] il medesimo Imbasciatore oltre la Battaglia portataci dal Cardinal Chigi'.
The letter concludes with an assertion of independence, and faith in his correspondent's friendship. 'Il mio Genio non e per servire nessuno. La mia fortuna mi vuol povero et io risoluto di no contrattare ni col uno ni coi l'altro, e mi giuro che mi stimero glorioso ogni volta che terminero i miei giorni con superbia et in mostra Amicizia', and with greetings from Signora Lucrezia and Augusto and, finally, a reference to the excessive rain.
Salvator Rosa was one of the most original artists and extravagant personalities of his day. In his later years his literary satires became increasingly despairing and were paralleled in his paintings. Among the most notorious of these was his depiction of La Fortuna, a commentary upon Roman society, showing Fortune lavishing her gifts upon those least deserving, including a crowd of beasts who trample the artist's palette and the poet's crown. It was exhibited in 1659 and caused a scandal; Rosa's avoidance of imprisonment was due to the intervention of Cardinal Mario Chigi, brother to Pope Alexander VII. The painting is now in the John Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Cardinal Chigi purchased as a diplomatic gift for Louis XIV the great battlescape referred to in the letter, originally commissioned by Cardinal Corsini and now in the Louvre. Rosa had first received an invitation to go to the French court in 1664, and wrote in February 1665 that in spite of the ambassador's persistence he had refused (De Rinaldis, 171 and 192-193). He also rejected invitations from the courts of Vienna and Stockholm, and publicised his refusals to increase his standing in Rome.
The style and content of the letter which also includes a salutation to 'Signor Cosimo' [Ricciardi] suggests that it is written to Giovanni Battista Ricciardi, who was among the closest of Salvator Rosa's circle of friends in Florence, where he worked from 1640-1649. Lucrezia Paolino, Rosa's mistress, lived with him there and was well known to Ricciardi and to the Maffei family of Volterra who also befriended him. On their return to Rome they lived in the Via Felice (now Via Sistina), where the police raid described in the letter took place.
Literature.
G.A.Cesareo, ed. Salvator Rosa. Poesie e Lettere Inedite (1892).
M. Kitson Catalogue of the Salvator Rosa Exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London (1973).
A. De Rinaldis Lettere Inedite di Salvator Rosa a G.B.Ricciardi (1939).
U. Limentani Salvator Rosa. Lettere Inedite. (1950).
A long and entertaining letter to a close friend (in Pisa), whose letters of March 2nd and 9th Rosa has received, mentioning a recent meeting with Ludovico (Maffei?), complaining of his misfortunes including his failing eyesight, 'son ridotto à non poter leggere che co' gli occhiali ... e volendo far senz'essi mi bisogna tenere il foglio un braccio lontano da gli occhi'. An indignant and comical account follows of a visit from the police ('sbiri') and a notary, acting on the instructions of one Romagnolo, 'il qualo mosso da uno zelo indiscreto senza dar quartiero a nessuno feci preffettare quanti cocubini li furono portati alla milizia e fra questi vi fu incluso ancor io .... Mi mando una sera un notaro con alcuni sbiri ma perché non poterno entrar in casa senza bassare più d'una volta, e farmi intendere ch'era la Corte, diedi tempo alla Signora Lucrezia di solvarsi in una casa contiera'.
Rosa describes somewhat boastfully his spurning of invitations from Paris (i.e. from Louis XIV) conveyed through the ambassador, and the favourable terms he has secured, 'son cosi perfettamente o per dir meglio confirmato nel odio de i Re e massime de i Re de i miei tempi. Che la meno risposta che ho dato a questo Imbasciatore e stato l'offerir ... a far una Pittura il mese [?] se voleva venire in Roma a d'essere mio Camerata e che dicesse al Re da mia parte che la pittura può Vantare il suo Diogene, a segno che l'Imbasciatore parti innamorato del mio genio. Ma non già io del suo dal quale ho cavato due cento doblini con stupore di tutta la corta di Roma, e i medesimi francesi mi chiamano il Salvatore de i Miracoli .... Bastandomi il fracasso che son sicuro che faranno in quel Cielo i tre quadri che mi condemna [?] il medesimo Imbasciatore oltre la Battaglia portataci dal Cardinal Chigi'.
The letter concludes with an assertion of independence, and faith in his correspondent's friendship. 'Il mio Genio non e per servire nessuno. La mia fortuna mi vuol povero et io risoluto di no contrattare ni col uno ni coi l'altro, e mi giuro che mi stimero glorioso ogni volta che terminero i miei giorni con superbia et in mostra Amicizia', and with greetings from Signora Lucrezia and Augusto and, finally, a reference to the excessive rain.
Salvator Rosa was one of the most original artists and extravagant personalities of his day. In his later years his literary satires became increasingly despairing and were paralleled in his paintings. Among the most notorious of these was his depiction of La Fortuna, a commentary upon Roman society, showing Fortune lavishing her gifts upon those least deserving, including a crowd of beasts who trample the artist's palette and the poet's crown. It was exhibited in 1659 and caused a scandal; Rosa's avoidance of imprisonment was due to the intervention of Cardinal Mario Chigi, brother to Pope Alexander VII. The painting is now in the John Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Cardinal Chigi purchased as a diplomatic gift for Louis XIV the great battlescape referred to in the letter, originally commissioned by Cardinal Corsini and now in the Louvre. Rosa had first received an invitation to go to the French court in 1664, and wrote in February 1665 that in spite of the ambassador's persistence he had refused (De Rinaldis, 171 and 192-193). He also rejected invitations from the courts of Vienna and Stockholm, and publicised his refusals to increase his standing in Rome.
The style and content of the letter which also includes a salutation to 'Signor Cosimo' [Ricciardi] suggests that it is written to Giovanni Battista Ricciardi, who was among the closest of Salvator Rosa's circle of friends in Florence, where he worked from 1640-1649. Lucrezia Paolino, Rosa's mistress, lived with him there and was well known to Ricciardi and to the Maffei family of Volterra who also befriended him. On their return to Rome they lived in the Via Felice (now Via Sistina), where the police raid described in the letter took place.
Literature.
G.A.Cesareo, ed. Salvator Rosa. Poesie e Lettere Inedite (1892).
M. Kitson Catalogue of the Salvator Rosa Exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London (1973).
A. De Rinaldis Lettere Inedite di Salvator Rosa a G.B.Ricciardi (1939).
U. Limentani Salvator Rosa. Lettere Inedite. (1950).