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Lot Essay
The author of this captivating image has yet to be identified, but he appears to have been one of the talented French followers of Caravaggio living in the expatriate community around Via Margutta in Rome circa 1630. Among this group could be counted a handful of the best French painters working in Italy, including Valentin, Regnier, Tournier, Vignon, Simon Vouet and his younger brother Aubin Vouet, all of whom would have been familiar with Caravaggio’s celebrated depiction of David with the Head of Goliath in the Galleria Borghese, Rome, and eager to emulate its seductive power.
In the present canvas, the painter unites with great success the sinuous elegance of late Mannerism, probably learned in the workshops of Paris, with the rougher, naturalist aesthetics of Caravaggio. The half-length framing of the figure, solid background illuminated by a single shaft of light, and ambivalent attitude to the overtly sensual and slightly menacing plebian model, all reflect the strong influence of the Italian master, but sweetened with the addition of a stylish swirl of red drapery and flamboyantly plumed hat. The fleshy realism of the boy’s torso, powerfully modeled by the use of dramatically contrasting shadows and light, the refined mannerism of his pose, and the theatrical artifice of the composition indicate the sensibilities of a Northern artist determined to retain only the most immediate and seductive features of Caravaggism.
In the present canvas, the painter unites with great success the sinuous elegance of late Mannerism, probably learned in the workshops of Paris, with the rougher, naturalist aesthetics of Caravaggio. The half-length framing of the figure, solid background illuminated by a single shaft of light, and ambivalent attitude to the overtly sensual and slightly menacing plebian model, all reflect the strong influence of the Italian master, but sweetened with the addition of a stylish swirl of red drapery and flamboyantly plumed hat. The fleshy realism of the boy’s torso, powerfully modeled by the use of dramatically contrasting shadows and light, the refined mannerism of his pose, and the theatrical artifice of the composition indicate the sensibilities of a Northern artist determined to retain only the most immediate and seductive features of Caravaggism.