"Of Silence and Speech, Silence is better," says the inscription
in Salvator Rosa’s 1640 Self-Portrait (above). Born June 20,
1615, Rosa let his paintings and etchings do the talking, and
bragging. Only the ego of Salvator Rosa could title an etching
The Genius of Salvator Rosa. In many ways, Rosa follows in the
“wild man” footsteps of artists such as Caravaggio, living life
to the fullest and making friends and enemies everywhere he
went. In addition to his paintings, Rosa wrote biting satires
that jabbed at many of his contemporaries. Perhaps when Rosa
claimed to prefer silence, he meant the silence of others. The
deep, dramatic darks of this self-portrait show that Rosa
followed Caravaggio in more than just pugnaciousness. I’m not
sure if Rosa ever met his slightly older contemporary Nicolas
Poussin, but it would have been interesting to witness. Poussin,
all erudition and class, sitting across from Rosa, brash and
spontaneous—yet both supremely talented. Rosa’s Landscape with
Saint John the Baptist Pointi