| Description | Etching with drypoint originally etched c.1662.
Image: Genius is represented by the naked youth crowned with ivy who is ignoring the upturned cornucopia to his left [wealth] and the tomb, cypresses and burial urn in the background [death]. The kneeling women personifies Sincerity. Liberty is the female figure who places a cap of liberty on the head of Genius. The kneeling figure in the foreground represents Painting, the female crowned with ivy is Satire, and the man wearing a toga and holding a balance is Equability.
Includes inscription ' Ingenius, Liber, Pictor Succensor et Aequus Spretor Opum, Martisque: hic meus est Genius. / Salvator Rosa.' [Sincere, free, fiery painter yet equable despiser of wealth and death: this is my genius].
This print is the second state as the faces and profiles of Genius and Liberty have been slightly altered. It is a companion piece for 'Alexander in the Studio of Apelles.' |