Salvator Rosa

The fall of the Giants

The fall of the Giants by Salvator Rosa

Artwork Detail

Ovid’s Metamorphoses describes how the Giants piled rocks one upon the other in an attempt to reach and conquer the stars. To repel them Zeus hurled his thunderbolts, so that the rocks cascaded back to earth, crushing the Giants beneath them.

Although the most famous interpretation of the theme was the entire room frescoed by Guilio Romano at Palazzo del Te, Mantua, Coriolano’s woodcut after Guido Reni’s Fall of the Giants was a more important pictorial source for Rosa (Wallace, 1973).

Title
The fall of the Giants
Artist/creator
Salvator Rosa
Production date
1663
Medium
etching
Dimensions
733 x 478 mm
Credit line
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Peter Tomory Collection, purchased 2004
Accession no
2004/30/101
Copyright
No known copyright restrictions
Department
International Art
Display status
Not on display

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