Study for a Raising of Lazarus (recto); half-length study of bearded nude male figure, and a man and woman with donkey (verso) 1615 - 1673

Salvator Rosa made this red chalk drawing, Study for a Raising of Lazarus, in Italy, sometime in the mid-17th century. Rosa was a rebellious artist who criticized the established artistic institutions of his day, like the Roman Academy of Saint Luke. The biblical Lazarus was brought back to life by Jesus, and Rosa's sketch shows him at this moment. We can think about this drawing in relation to religious institutions and their social function. Rosa’s Lazarus, as a biblical subject, embodies a belief in divine intervention and miraculous power. To fully understand this drawing, one can investigate Rosa’s biography, read period religious texts, or study the history of the institutions with which he argued. Art history helps us understand how visual culture interacts with the power structures of its time.