Salvator Rosa

Italian 16151673
A harbour scene (Il porto) c.163839
oil on canvas
170.0 x 260.0 cm
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid (P00324)
Spanish Royal Collection

Points Description
1st reaction A colourful scenery of harbour. The no sail ships show they are not out of duty, or
are ready to (due to the movement of harbour workers beside)
Direction Follow the seashore, the painting constructs the left-right direction, and divide the
landscape into the near-side perspective and the far-side.
Consists of hue The actual painting seems more vivid, but a pile of large grey cloud on the sky
builds a strong contrast. It sets off the whole tone without getting monotonous.
Value Since this painting was done under cloudy sunset, the darker and greyer value can
be observed. However, the value makes orange, fading sunshine and the slight
reection on the ground become the focal point.
Shape As a typical Baroque landscape work, the shape of every object (such as ships,
castles, tree on right hand side and people in the front) is comparatively realistic
(rather than the traditional religious theme painting).
Space This painting are divided into two part: near-side which describes the working
situation of harbour workers, and the far-side which illustrates only the scenery
(castle, village, mountain etc.). Illustrating the harbour workers emphasises the
vitality of the whole scenery and the principal idea of the artists in the Renaissance
age: the main role is people rather than God.
Points
Balance Asymmetrical balance is created in construction to show the two different part of the
landscape. An interesting point is the contrast of cloud and the landscape below
shows the contrary position. The cloud with higher contrast is set above left-hand
side, further and low-contrast landscape, while which with lower contrast is set
above opposite side. It can be supposed to make balance to the hue of whole
scene.
Purpose Analysis Salvator Rosa created not only one harbour scene painting but several works in
different places. The purpose can be supposed simply that to illustrate the scene
honestly, so as other Baroque painters. The work seems similar to which made by
one of the painters friend Claude Lorrain (Seaport with the Embarkation of the
Queen of Sheba, 1648, oil on canvas, 149.1 ! 196.7 cm, National Gallery, London,
NG14), on style. However, Rosas painting style is more dynamic to make a sort of
illusion of the cloud/sea wave is moving, comparing to the graceful and quiet
atmosphere of Lorrains work.
Description Points