A young boy holding a plate of apples

The attribution is made on the basis of comparison with several works by Regnier thought to have been executed during his early years in Rome, where he is recorded between 1621 and 1625. Not only is the facial type and pose of the present subject entirely characteristic for Regnier but so too is the accomplished handling of the still life - an area in which Regnier is known to have excelled. In this respect, affinities can be seen with the artist's Allegory of Summer, from a set of the seasons, formerly in the collection of Andrea Busiri Vici, Rome, in which the basket of apples is attributed by Nicolson to another hand that he terms Caravaggesque Master 'J' (see B. Nicolson, Caravaggism in Europe, revised L. Vertova, Oxford, 1979, I, p. 159, no. 964; III, pl. 964). Whilst the quality of the still life in the present work is self-evident, the treatment of the figure is harder to judge on account of the fact that a large proportion of the flesh tones, both in the face and torso, have been overpainted.