Art, literature & history
Polycrates' Crucifixion
1664
- Dating
- Exact year
- Held at
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 73.4 × 98.9 cm (28 7/8 × 38 15/16 in.); Framed: 87 × 112.4 × 7 cm (34 1/4 × 44 1/4 × 2 3/4 in.)
- Collection no.
- 1942.292
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Salvator Rosa. Polycrates' Crucifixion. Art Institute of Chicago. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
About this artwork
Polycrates' Crucifixion — Salvator Rosa. 1664.
Medium: Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 73.4 × 98.9 cm (28 7/8 × 38 15/16 in.); Framed: 87 × 112.4 × 7 cm (34 1/4 × 44 1/4 × 2 3/4 in.).
Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
A native of Naples, Salvator Rosa settled in Rome in 1649, producing dramatic works regarded as counterparts to the calm, classical landscapes of his contemporaries Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin . Rosa’s landscapes present nature as wild, filled with striking effects of light, jagged cliffs, and dark grottoes. These qualities underline the eerie mood in his depiction of the death of Polycrates, ruler of the Greek island of Samos. Together with its companion piece Polycrates and the Fisherman , it illustrates the king’s inability to escape the ups and downs of fortune to which all humans are subject.
Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.