Concert of Youths by Caravaggio, 1595

 

 

Mentioned by Baglione: "Caravaggio painted for the Cardinal del Monte a concert of youths." Bellori: "Caravaggio made for the Cardinal del Monte a concert of youths in half figures." "Concert of Youths" hangs in New York, at the Metropolitan Museum. 92 x 118.5 cm. The inscription in the lower left corner is probably from the eighteenth century. The first two letters of the name are missing, which would indicate that the painting was cut on the left side; maybe it was cut on the right side as well.

Baglione mentions it in a fragment: "A boy bitten by a lizard" (lucerta) that comes out of some flowers and fruits. It is a work of such diligence that the boy really appears to shriek." Says Mancini: "Shortly after Caravaggio came to Rome, during his stay with Pandolfo Pucci da Recanati, he painted for sale a child (putto) who cries from being bitten by a "racano," which he holds in his hand (che tiene in mano)."

It shows four seated youths with musical instruments and scores. The central figure, touching the strings of a lute with his right hand and tuning the instrument with his left, has his mouth open as though he were singing. A semi-nude figure on the right, seen from the back, looks at a score which he holds on his lap, and his violin, with the bow attached, lies beside him. Between this and the central figure are the head and shoulders of another boy who holds a long wind instrument; his mouth, like that of the central figure, is open as though he were singing. A fourth figure on the left leans over and breaks the stem of a bunch of grapes.

It would seem that the last figure originally had wings which, according to the restorer, were overpainted by Caravaggio himself. Each of the figures has a parallel in another known work by, attributed to or copied after Caravaggio: the boy on the left is comparable to the Boy Peeling Fruit (known only in copies); the face of the central figure, with its sensuous expression, is similar to the Boy with a Basket of Fruit in the Borghese Collection and the general conception of this figure also recalls the Lute Player in the Hermitage.

The boy who holds the wind instrument is somewhat similar to the so-called Bacchino Malato, and the curl on his forehead is almost identical with that of the Boy with a Basket of Fruit. The seated figure seen from the rear recalls that in The Cardsharps and could also be related to the angel in the Flight to Egypt.

Print DIGG MIXX!

Caravaggio "Boy Bitten by a Lizard" (1594-1596) National Gallery, London

Caravaggio "Boy Peeling a Pear" (1592-1593) Longhi Collection, Rome

Caravaggio "The Cardsharps" (1594) Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth

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