Artwork Page for Diogenes and His Cup

Details / Information for Diogenes and His Cup

Diogenes and His Cup

1662

Salvator Rosa

(Italian, 1615–1673)
Culture
Italy, 17th century
Medium
etching
Credit Line
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1975.51
Catalogue raisonné
Bartsch XX.270.5 ; Wallance 103
State
II/II
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Diogenes was an ancient Greek philosopher who valued poverty and shunned worldly goods, to the extent that he discarded his drinking bowl when he observed a youth drinking water from cupped hands, as depicted here. The print was made by the eccentric Neapolitan artist Salvator Rosa, who rejected conventional patronage in order to focus on themes that interested him. The placement of the narrative within a lush landscape is typical of Rosa’s approach, as is the emphasis on the unconventional principles of his subject, with which he identified.
A vertically oriented print in black ink depicts six men in draping robes within a dense forest. Centrally, a bearded man points toward the lower right where a figure crouches to drink from their hands, dropping a bowl from his other hand. To the left, three men stand watching, while another reclines against a massive, textured tree. Large, gnarled trees fill the background above a Latin text panel at the bottom center.

Diogenes and His Cup

1662

Salvator Rosa

(Italian, 1615–1673)
Italy, 17th century

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