Hero And Leander 

Salvator Rosa painted this scene from Greek mythology, 'Hero and Leander', with oils on canvas in seventeenth-century Italy. The dramatic narrative is made evident through Rosa's characteristically energetic brushstrokes, and the high emotional tension of the figures, particularly Hero, conveys the sense of social upheaval that characterized Baroque art in general. Rosa was active in academies and salons in Florence and Rome, and was therefore deeply embedded within the art establishment. However, he was also a painter of battle scenes and bandits; his paintings often have a distinctly anti-authoritarian tone and represent a challenge to the status quo. In this painting, the classical subject matter might be seen as deliberately undermining the rigid social codes of the time, since it depicts a love affair across social classes. As historians, we can deepen our appreciation of this painting by looking into the artist's biography and by researching the philosophical trends of the time. By doing so, we can begin to understand how the painting, despite its classical origins, might be a commentary on contemporary society.