Polycrates and the Fisherman

Description

This painting and its companion piece recount the story of the Greek king Polycrates, as told by the ancient historian Herodotus. Polycrates, ruler of the island of Samos, worried that he was tempting fate with his great prosperity. He tried to introduce some counterbalancing misfortune into his life by throwing a precious signet ring into the sea, but it was swallowed by a large fish and returned to the king by a fisherman, the episode shown here. Polycrates’s good fortune came to an end when he was entrapped by Oroetus of Sardis and put to death, the event illustrated in Polycrates’ Crucifixion.

Provenance

Bonaventura Argenti (died 1697), Rome; by descent to Argenti’s heirs, Rome 1697 to 1698 [“Due quardri da Quattro palmi in circa, con due Historie di Policrate cornice dorata di Salvator Rosa, 250 Scudi“ (Two pictures, each about four palms across, with two histories of Policrates framed in gold by Salvator Rosa, 250 Scudi); Giuseppe Ghezzi, “Quadri delle case de Prencipi in Roma,” 1686–1717, MS. 93, Palazzo Braschi, Rome, c. 283; published by Meroni 1978, p. 89 and de Marchi 1987, pp. 384, 392–93]; consigned for sale to Giuseppe Ghezzi, Rome, about 1698 [see Ghezzi 1686–1717 cited above]. Probably 2nd Earl of Warwick, (Warwick Castle) by 1801 [auction of June 1, 1801 at Christie’s, bought in; see Fredericksen and Zeri 1972]. Schaeffer Galleries, New York, 1942 [see New York 1942, no. 30]. A. F. Mondschein, New York by 1942; sold to the Art Institute, 1942.

Polycrates and the Fisherman

Salvator Rosa

1664

Accession Number

44826

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

73 × 98.6 cm (28 1/2 × 38 13/16 in.); Framed: 87 × 112.4 × 7 cm (34 1/4 × 44 1/4 × 2 3/4 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Wentworth Greene Field Memorial Fund