Three bathers undressing 

Curator: Here we have Salvator Rosa's "Three Bathers Undressing", currently housed in the Städel Museum. It's a lively ink drawing that really captures a moment in time. Editor: Ah, there’s an interesting sense of disarray, a vulnerability. I can almost feel the cool air hitting their skin. It feels very human, raw, like a stolen glance. Curator: Rosa, known for his Baroque style, frequently explored history painting, but here, he uses the medium of ink drawing to examine figuration, particularly nudes. Notice how the rapid strokes almost give the impression of movement. One wonders if the drawing served a specific purpose. Editor: Yes, look how he uses those frenetic lines. You know, it’s funny, my initial thought wasn't about high art, but about work. Like labourers shedding layers after a tough task, that raw materiality sings to me. Not some grand statement, just real bodies caught between moments. Curator: Absolutely, it’s easy to get pulled into a more traditional view with history paintings and baroque, yet considering Rosa’s engagement with unconventional subjects, your focus on the material reality and the labor aspect makes perfect sense. It speaks to how artists of the time were starting to shift away from solely religious or mythological themes. Editor: Exactly. It makes you think about where these materials came from, the process of making ink, the paper. Every choice, deliberate or not, reveals something about the world around him. It humanizes everything. Curator: Precisely, thinking about labor as the subject. In art history, we are constantly confronted with an active and conscious effort from the artist; through process and mark-making, Rosa shows that art also concerns the social milieu in which it was produced. Editor: Well said. You know, next time I peel off my muddy gardening clothes, I'll remember those bathers. Thank you for helping me see that, and, for, once again, blurring my notion of high and low.