Human Fragility

Human Fragility is an oil-on-canvas painting of 1656 by the Italian artist Salvator Rosa.It was painted during a plague in Naples; many of Rosa's relatives, including his son, brother, and sister, died.The work depicts figures enacting an allegory: the seated woman is said to be Lucrezia, Rosa's mistress, and the young boy his son, wrist clenched by Death.The angel of death is manipulating the boy's hand to write "Conceptio Culpa, Nasci Pena, Labor Vita, Necesse Mori – 'Conception is a sin, Birth is a punishment, Life is toil, Death a necessity."The canvas is adorned with many foreboding indicia and memento mori(s).
Salvator RosaOil on canvasFitzwilliam MuseumCambridgeoil-on-canvasplague in Naplesallegoryangel of deathmemento moriPhilosophyTorture of PrometheusSelf-PortraitAllegory of FortuneThe Dream of AeneasLandscape with Tobias and the AngelCatarina or La Fille du BanditJules PerrotCesare PugniAntônio Carlos Gomes