165 



HOOKER, MICHAEL ANGELO. 



ROSAS, DON JtJAN MANUEL DE. 



166 



seat in parliament, and passed the rest of bis life at bis seat of St. 

 Lawrence, where be died on the 24th of January 1709, aged fifty- 

 eight, and was buried in the cathedral of Canterbury. He was thrice 

 married. 



ROOKER, MICHAEL ANGELO, an artist of considerable merit 

 as a landscape-painter and engraver, was born in London about 1743. 

 His father, Edward Rooker, also a skilful designer and engraver, who 

 excelled in landscapes and architectural views, appears to have been a 

 singular character, having for some time acted as a harlequin at Drury 

 Lane Theatre. Michael Angelo was taught engraving by his father, 

 and executed the head-pieces to the ' Oxford Almanack ' for several 

 years, from his own drawings. In landscape-drawing, which is said to 

 have been his favourite occupation, he was instructed by Paul Sandby, 

 wbose style he imitated. His manner is not powerful, but his drawings 

 display taste and feeling. For several years Rooker painted the scenes 

 for the Haymarket Theatre. He was one of the early associates of fhe 

 Royal Academy, and died on the last day of February 1801, at the age 

 of fifty-seven or fifty-eight. 



ROOS, PHILIP PETER, a painter commonly called ROSA DA 

 TIVOLI, from his long residence at that place, was born at Frankfurt 

 in 1655. He was instructed in art by his father, who was in the service 

 of the Landgrave of Hesse, by which prince Philip was sent to Italy, 

 and allowed a pension during the period of his study. On arriving at 

 Rome he applied himself assiduously to painting, and acquired an 

 astonishing facility of hand ; indeed, such was his rapidity of execution 

 that C. le Blond, who was at the same time at Rome, declare? that 

 Roos copied in chalk the arch of Titus within half an hour, and that 

 with a considerable degree of finish. He devoted his talents chiefly 

 to painting animals, which he designed mostly from nature. To faci- 

 litate his studies he established himself at Tivoli, where he kept a kind 

 of menagerie for the purpose of drawiug from the life with correctness 

 such animals as he required for his pictures. His other subjects 

 generally represent pastoral scenes, with herdsmen and cattle, and 

 works of a similar nature, some of which are executed as large as life. 

 His groups are composed with much judgment; and the landscapes in 

 his backgrounds, his skies and distances, are treated with fidelity, and 

 executed in a masterly style. Yet, although he painted with great 

 facility, his productions betray no appearance of negligence or inatten- 

 tion; they are free, without being deficient in finish. His pictures, 

 according to Lanzi, are to be found in the galleries of Vienna, Dresden, 

 and other capital cities of Germany, besides an immense number in 

 Italy and many in England, though we have no specimen by his hand 

 in the National Gallery. He was a member of most of the principal 

 academies of Europe. He is said by Huber to have etched a few 

 plates of pastoral subjects, which are very scarce. 



ROSA, SALVA'TOR, was born at Renella, or Arenella, a village in 

 the environs of Naples, on th 20th of June 1615, and he was originally 

 intended for the Church. Whilst yet a boy he manifested a strong 

 propensity for drawing, and in order to cure him his parents procured 

 his admission as a student in the college of the congregation of Somasca 

 in Naples; but before the expiration of the usual period of residence, 

 he was either expelled or voluntarily quitted the college. On his 

 return to Renella he devoted his time to the study of music, and 

 cultivated his talent for poetry ; and on the marriage of his eldest 

 sister with Francesco Francanzani, a disciple of the Spagnuoletto 

 school, he attended the studio of that artist. He also studied from 

 nature in oil-colour, and in 1633 went from Naples on a tour through 

 the wild scenery of La Basilicata, La Puglia, and Calabria. During 

 his absence he appears to have associated with banditti. At this period 

 Salvator seems to have fostered and matured his taste for romantic 

 scenery, and the studies which he made of groups and single figures 

 whilst with the bandits served him as valuable materials for his future 

 works. Soon after his arrival at Renella his father died, leaving the 

 family dependent upon Salvator, who was then certainly not more than 

 eighteen years of age, for their support To perform this duty, he 

 executed with great rapidity subjects on primed paper, his poverty not 

 enabling him to purchase canvas, and sold them to the dealers who 

 keep the stalls in the Strada della Carita in Naples. One of these, 

 representing the story of Hagar and Ishmael, was seen and purchased 

 by Giovanni Lanfrauco, who was then in the city decorating the church 

 of Gesti Nuovo for the Jesuits. The admiration of that painter was 

 valuable to Salvator,. for his works rose in price accordingly, but at 

 the same time it laid him open to the malice and envy of other 

 Neapolitan artists. They ridiculed the efforts of a man who had been 

 obliged to seek the patronage of mean dealers, and he retorted upon 

 them in epigrams, and satirical verses which he set to music and sang. 

 He however obtained the friendship of Aniello Falcone, an eminent 

 painter of battles, the first and best of the pupils of Spagnuoletto, who 

 gave him instruction, and after a time introduced him to the notice 

 of that great painter, from whose advice and practice he derived great 

 benefit. 



On the invitation of his former friend, who was in the establishment 

 of the Cardinal Brancaccio, he repaired to Rome. Here he enjoyed 

 the patronage of the cardinal, who took him to the bisuojuio of 

 Viterbo, where, besides other works, he painted an altar-piece repre- 

 senting the incredulity of St. Thomas, for the Chiesa della Morte. In 

 1639 he went again to Rome. The reputation of Salvator was now at 

 its height : he was esteemed as a painter, a poet, a musician, and an 



actor; for the plays which he performed were written by him, the 

 music composed by his hand, and the principal character represented 

 by himself. As an artist, he was most extensively patronised, and at 

 very high prices. In 1647, on the breaking out of the revolt of Masa- 

 niello at Naples, Salvator Rosa returned to that city, and became a 

 member of the band. On the suppression of the revolt, he made his 

 escape from Naples in the train of the Prince Carlo Giovanni de' 

 Medici, with whom he went to Florence, where he was employed by 

 the grand-duke to paint in t-he Pitti Palace. Here he associated with 

 the literati and the principal nobility. After remaining several years 

 at Florence he returned to Rome, and was again extensively employed. 

 In 1663 he executed three pictures for the exhibition of San Giovanni; 

 one was Pythagoras on the sea-shore, the second was the same philoso- 

 pher recounting his visit to the infernal regions, and the third the 

 prophet Jeremiah thrown into a pit for having prophesied the fall of 

 Jerusalem ; and soon after he produced his most celebrated picture, 

 the 'Catiline Conspiracy.' In 1668, at the annual exhibition of the 

 Feast of San Giovanni Decollate, he placed his ' Saul and the Witch 

 of Endor ' in competition with the works then shown of the elder 

 masters. He did not execute any important works after this, and died 

 of an attack of the dropsy, on the 15th of March 1673. He was 

 buried in the vestibule of the church of Santa Maria degli Angioli, 

 which was erected over the ruins of the baths of Diocletian, by Michel 

 Angelo. Salvator Rosa left one son, by Lucrezia, a mistress, who 

 accompanied him from Florence, and to whom he was married shortly 

 before his death. 



Rosa possessed great invention, and had a wonderful facility of exe- 

 cution. He is superior when he confines his efforts to works of the 

 easel size, and his figures are then correct in drawing and spirited in 

 design. Such is the case in his picture of ' Atilius liegulus,' formerly 

 in the Palazzo Colouna at Rome, and now iu the possession of the 

 Earl of Darnley. Of his landscapes, it may be observed, that he 

 wholly rejected the simplicity and amenity cultivated by Claude and 

 by Poussin, and indulged in gloomy effects and romantic forms ; nor 

 are his sea-pieces less forcible; in them he represents the desolate 

 shores of Calabria, and not unfrequently adds interest to his works by 

 the terror of shipwreck. According to Sir Joshua Reynolds, he gives 

 a peculiar cast of nature, which, though void of grace, elegance, aud 

 simplicity, though it has nothing of that elevation and dignity which 

 belong to the grand style, has yet that sort of dignity which belongs 

 to savage and uncultivated nature. Elsewhere, Sir Joshua very truly 

 observes, " What is most to be admired in Salvator Rosa is the perfect 

 correspondence which he observed between the subjects which he 

 chose and his manner of treating them. Everything is of a piece : 

 his rocks, views, sky, even to his handling, have the same rude and 

 wild character which animates his figures." But in his efforts to main- 

 tain this bold and romantic style, Salvator, it must be admitted, is 

 often extremely careless in his drawing, both trees and rocks being 

 in outline and surface quite untrue to nature. 



There are a great number of his pictures in England, several of 

 which are in the collections of the Marquis of Westminster, the 

 Earl of Ellesmere, the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Darnley, and 

 others. The National Gallery contains one large landscape by him 

 ' Mercury and the Woodman.' His etchings consist of about ninety 

 in number, executed in a spirited and masterly style. The chiaro- 

 scuro is admirably managed, and the heads of the figures are full of 

 expression. His monogram is composed of an S and R combined, the 

 former letter drawn over the straight line of the latter. 



Some of the music-books of Salvator Rosa were, amongst other 

 musical manuscripts, purchased by Dr. Burney, at Rome, and amongst 

 many airs and cantatas by different masters, there were eight entire 

 cantatas, written, set, and transcribed by the painter himself. From 

 the specimen of his talents for music there given, there seems to be 

 no doubt that he had a truer genius for this science, in point of 

 melody, than any of his predecessors or contemporaries, and there is a 

 strength of expression in his verses which must always place him 

 above the middle rank of poets. To his other accomplishments he 

 added architecture, which, according to Pascoli, he understood per- 

 fectly ; and he excelled as a comic actor, an improvisatore, and a 

 performer on various musical instruments. 



*ROSAS, DON JUAN MANUEL DE, formerly president of the 

 Argentine Confederation, is a native of South America, but descended 

 from Spanish progenitors. The states bordering on the Rio de la 

 Plata from the time of their casting off their dependence on Spain, 

 had been in a continued state of change. Sometimes they constituted 

 themselves independent and frequently hostile states, sometimes they 

 formed a federal state, and sometimes there were federations of two 

 or three. In January 1831 Rosas, who had previously displayed 

 capacity and courage in subordinate employments, was appointed 

 governor or captain-general of Buenos Ayres, which proviuce was then 

 in federal union with Entre Rios, Corrientes, and Santa Fe*. In this 

 position his first enterprise was to subdue the disaffected Indians, 

 which he accomplished by his promptitude and energy, thus securing 

 internal peace, and establishing a character for himself. In 1835 the 

 confederation was dissolving into anarchy, when Rosas was elected 

 president of the whole Argentine Confederation. The other states 

 acceding, Rosas still retained his position in Buenos Ayres, which state 

 was specially charged with the management of those affairs which were 



