Two paintings, two long absences
The Italian Baroque in this room is a story of drama and disappearance: a Caravaggio altarpiece that spent most of its existence outside Italy and out of sight, and a set of four small round paintings by Salvator Rosa devoted to witchcraft, made for a circle of refined Florentine collectors rather than for the Church.
1. The Caravaggio known only through copies
The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew, painted by Caravaggio in Naples in 1606-1607, is taken to Spain as early as 1610 by the Count of Benavente, Viceroy of Naples, at the end of his term, then installed in his family palace at Valladolid — an inventory of 1653 already values it as the most precious piece in his collection. The painting then remains in Spain for centuries, known to art historians only through copies and an old description, until its rediscovery and acquisition by the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1976, from the Arnaiz collection in Madrid.
It is today the only Caravaggio altarpiece on display in the United States — of the seven paintings by the artist held in American collections, this is the only one painted for liturgical use rather than for a private collector. A conservation campaign carried out between 2014 and 2017 allowed close study of the artist's technique on this painting.
2. Four witches, four times of day
Salvator Rosa paints his Scenes of Witchcraft in Florence, at the Medici court, between roughly 1645 and 1649: four tondi (round paintings) titled Morning, Day, Evening and Night, each devoted to a different type of witch — the beautiful enchantress, the toothless old crone, the male sorcerer — and to practices associated with black magic: levitation, love potions, the invocation of demons, transformation. The choice of a circular format is no accident: the circle is the shape traditionally associated with magical rituals, and Rosa turns it literally into the frame of his scenes.
These paintings belong to the Florentine taste for satire, the grotesque and the macabre, and reflect a contemporary interest in witchcraft treated here in an erudite, literary register rather than a religious or moralising one — a sharp difference in tone from the religious painting that surrounds them in the same room.
How much time
Two works of strong dramatic presence — take the time to look at Rosa's four tondi one by one before stopping at the Caravaggio.
- The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew (Caravaggio) — 10 minutes.
- Scenes of Witchcraft (Salvator Rosa) — 10 minutes.
Sources and verification
Checked against the official notices of the Cleveland Museum of Art (clevelandart.org) and cross-checked with Wikipedia EN/FR.
- Cleveland Museum of Art — The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew, Caravaggio
- Wikipedia EN — The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew (Caravaggio)
- Cleveland Museum of Art — Conserving Caravaggio's Crucifixion of Saint Andrew
- Cleveland Museum of Art — Scenes of Witchcraft, Salvator Rosa
- Cleveland Museum of Art — The Novel and the Bizarre: Salvator Rosa's Scenes of Witchcraft
Displays and room openings can change. Check the Cleveland Museum of Art website on the day of your visit before following a route.
Listen to the commentary in the gallery
This route gives you a thread to follow. In front of an artwork, CulturAll adds the audio commentary: photograph the work or its label, listen, then ask your questions.
