Salvator Rosa, 1615-1673, was an Italian artist from Naples well known for his landscape art within the 17th century (famsf.org). His landscapes often depicted travelers, beggars, peasants, and even bandits in a rough, undomesticated landscape (Allen). One landscape in particular simply named ‘Landscape with Travelers’ painted in 1640 highlights his technique and general story-telling quite well. By using light and shadow he is able to create a message that seemingly need no true narrative as a source of explanation. Rosa used the medium of landscape art to encourage, while simultaneously highlighting, the dangers of travel and the exploration the wilderness (Kosiacka-Beck 266).
The painting itself itself is a 56 ½ x 67 in. landscape oil painting on canvas (famsf.org) within wooden frame. Brushwork is slightly layered, but mostly focuses on using a chiaroscuro effect to help guide a …show more content…
As said before, two pyramids are the primary source of stabilization on either side of the scene. If using the contrast of light and shadow, there is also a clear set of parallel lines between the bottom left and top right of the painting which helps frame the travelers as they seem to emerge from the darkness and into the light. The scene also gives branches between the dark and lighter sides of the scene in the form of a traveler pointing in direction of the beggars as well as one of the beggars themselves being illuminated on one side and a deep shadow underneath the horses that bleeds into the cliff face itself. The parallel itself is at a diagonal which help keep the whole scene in motion with a sense of flow. With the middle ground being the main area of attention, the viewers eyes are steadily guided from the darkness of where the travelers emerged and then quickly disappear in to the background and sky illuminating the
The painting itself itself is a 56 ½ x 67 in. landscape oil painting on canvas (famsf.org) within wooden frame. Brushwork is slightly layered, but mostly focuses on using a chiaroscuro effect to help guide a …show more content…
As said before, two pyramids are the primary source of stabilization on either side of the scene. If using the contrast of light and shadow, there is also a clear set of parallel lines between the bottom left and top right of the painting which helps frame the travelers as they seem to emerge from the darkness and into the light. The scene also gives branches between the dark and lighter sides of the scene in the form of a traveler pointing in direction of the beggars as well as one of the beggars themselves being illuminated on one side and a deep shadow underneath the horses that bleeds into the cliff face itself. The parallel itself is at a diagonal which help keep the whole scene in motion with a sense of flow. With the middle ground being the main area of attention, the viewers eyes are steadily guided from the darkness of where the travelers emerged and then quickly disappear in to the background and sky illuminating the