Landscape with Tobit and the Angel 1670

Curator: Salvator Rosa's "Landscape with Tobit and the Angel," painted around 1670, presents us with a rather dramatic, almost theatrical interpretation of a biblical scene. Editor: Wow, instantly I feel like I've wandered onto a stage set, all swirling clouds and craggy cliffs. It's got this real "gothic novel cover" vibe. You almost expect a brooding hero to emerge. Curator: Precisely! Rosa was known for his "unorthodox" approach to landscape, injecting history, allegory, and intense emotion into the genre. Tobit, from the Old Testament Apocrypha, is here depicted meeting the angel Raphael amidst a wild, untamed terrain. Editor: It’s not your usual serene biblical scene, is it? More like they’re encountering each other in some kind of post-apocalyptic wonderland, maybe after the fall of some ancient kingdom. All the tension in the figures makes the scene feel really loaded. What do we know about Rosa’s reputation for being "unorthodox"? Curator: In its own way, Rosa critiqued the artistic norms and elitist values prevalent at the time. He challenged established artistic academies by portraying nature with such powerful intensity and with a kind of visual language people found innovative or unnerving. He embraced subjects and a style which at times alienated certain important members of society, creating his own following and influence. Editor: It certainly works! I like how tiny they are within this vast setting. Nature overwhelms them. It’s almost as if their story, as important as it may be, is still only a fleeting drama in a much grander play. It prompts this question: are we just incidental to the story of this wild planet? Curator: An excellent point. The scale certainly dwarfs the figures, underlining the insignificance of man against the backdrop of divine creation. Editor: So much darker and stranger than I initially gave it credit for. Now it just needs a good doom metal soundtrack! Curator: Perhaps it needs to be recognized for the historical turning point that it represents!