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Salvator Rosa

Polycrates' Crucifixion

1664
Oil on canvas
73.4 × 98.9 cm (28.9 × 38.9 in)

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● On view now — Gallery 209

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · verified July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

A native of Naples, Salvator Rosa settled in Rome in 1649, producing dramatic works regarded as counterparts to the calm, classical landscapes of his contemporaries Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin . Rosa’s landscapes present nature as wild, filled with striking effects of light, jagged cliffs, and dark grottoes. These qualities underline the eerie mood in his depiction of the death of Polycrates, ruler of the Greek island of Samos. Together with its companion piece Polycrates and the Fisherman , it illustrates the king’s inability to escape the ups and downs of fortune to which all humans are subject.

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