4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2010.

The Baptism of the Eunuch

Artist Salvator Rosa (Italian, 1615-1673)

CultureItalian

Dateca. 1660

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions79 x 48 in. (200.7 x 121.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 93 1/8 x 62 1/4 x 3 1/2 in. (236.5 x 158.1 x 8.9 cm)

InscribedSigned in monogram lower right: "SR" (in ligature)

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.525

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 205

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. In the painting Philip, clothed in white and pointing upward, baptizes the kneeling eunuch, whose companions respond with confusion and surprise. The scene unfolds in a barren, rock-bound landscape, a gloomy and fobidding setting typical of Rosa. Characteristic, too, of Rosa's restive, proto-Romantic art is the galvanic mood of 'storm and stress' that courses through the scene and manifests itself particularly in the Ethiopians' theatrical gestures, wide-eyed expressions and exotic costumes.

Label TextSalvator Rosa Italian, 1615–1673 The Baptism of the Eunuch, ca. 1660 Oil on canvas Baroque artists infused high drama into even minor Bible stories. In this scene, the evangelist Philip is converting an Ethiopian official whom he met while travelling to Gaza (Acts 8:26–39). Amid raised arms and glinting light, Philip baptizes the Ethiopian, who bows humbly at his feet. Many viewers would have seen the convert’s turban and golden cloak as exotic—features that emphasized the Catholic Church’s new enthusiasm for proselytizing to the entire world. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.525 ProvenanceMonsignor Giovanni Battista Costaguti, Rome, ca. 1660-1704; Humphrey Morice, Lord Warden, Esq. at the Grove near Chiswick, Middlesex, by 1786; Second Earl of Ashburnham, England, 1786-1812; Earl of Ashburnham, 1812-1850; Lady Catherine Ashburnham, 1953; Sale, Sotheby's, London, June 24, 1953; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 1971. Exhibition History"Exhibition of Works by Holbein and Other Masters of the 16th and 17th Centuries," Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1950-1951. (Exhib. cat. no. 406). "Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Seattle Art Museum; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Minneapolis Art Institute; St. Louis City Art Museum; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City; Detroit Institute of Arts; and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, March 2, 1956 - April 14, 1957. (Exhib. cat. no. 36). "Baroque Painters of Naples," The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 1961. (Exhib. cat. no. 25). "Neapolitan Masters of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century," Finch College Museum of Art, New York, 1962. (Exhib. cat. no. 15). "Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Bowdoin College, Branswick, Maine, 1963. (Exhib. cat. no. 19). "Art in Italy, 1600-1700," The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, 1965. (Exhib. cat. no. 155). "Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Dec. 2, 1967 - May 15, 1968. (Exhib. cat. no. 37). "Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, June - Sept. 1977. (Exhib. cat. no. 14). "Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," for the benefit of The Chrysler Museum Art Reference Library, Wildenstein & Co., New York, N. Y., April 13 - May 13, 1978. (Exhib. cat. no. 4). "Salvator Rosa (1615-1673): Bandits, Wilderness, and Magic," Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX, December 12, 2010 - March 27, 2011. Published ReferencesBertina S. Manning. _Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.: An Exhibition Organized by the Portland Art Museum, Oregon_. Portland: Portland Art Association. 1956. No. 36. Robert L. Manning. _Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Norfolk: Norfolk Museum of Arts and Science. 1967. No. 37. Michael Mahoney. _The Drawings of Salvator Rosa_. New York and London, 1977, I, p. 103-104, 122, 521-522. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya. _Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville. 1977. No. 14. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya. _Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum. 1978. No. 4. _Salvator Rosa in America_, exhibition catalog, Wellesley College Museum, Wellesley, Massachusetts, 1979, 17. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, 1991, 42, #34. Andreas Stolzenburg. _Salvator Rosa: Genie der Zeichnung_. Wienand verlang: Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig und Autoren, 1999, 144. Jeff Harrison. _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 28, fig. 20. Helen Langdon, _Salvator Rosa (1615-1673): Bandits, Wilderness and Magic_, exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX, 2010, 226-229, cat. 39. Alexandra Hoare. _Salvator Rosa, Friendship and the Free Artist in the Seventeenth-Century Italy_. (London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2018). fig. 94, pg. 146.