Alexander in the studio of Apelles

Although famous and influential as a painter of haunting, rugged landscapes which make him regarded as a 'Romantic' nearly 200 years before his time, Salvator Rosa was also a significant etcher. This is an ambitious subject for an etching and equally appropriate as a larger 'historical genre' painting. Like its 'other half', <em>Alexander and Diogenes,</em> also in Te Papa's collection (1869-0001-470), it relates to episodes in the life of Alexander the Great. This print shows him in the studio of Apelles, the most celebrated painter of the Antiquity, who became an intimate friend of the Emperor. Their intimacy was such that Apelles was able to silence Alexander who was talking too much and caused the hilarity of the painter’s young assistants, who are fooling around behind the painting. It seems next to certain that an episode like this would have happened in Rosa's studio; it certainly appealed to the artist and his sense of status. At the bottom of the plate are explanatory lines in Latin, taken from Pliny, the first century AD Roman author; much of what we know about Apelles is derived from Pliny's <em>Natural History</em>, which became the model for encyclopedias for centuries to come.

See: Art Institute of Chicago, http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/137057 

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art     June 2017