CARACCIOLO, Giovanni Battista
(b. 1578, Napoli, d. 1635, Napoli)

A Young Man

1605-10
Oil on canvas, 63 x 50 cm
Private collection

The painting, showing the half-length figure of a young man, reflects the influence of Caravaggio's St John the Baptist, painted in Naples. However, the youth's air of coarseness and his enticing smile seem far removed from a religious representation, and these qualities would seem instead to suggest a figure of Bacchus. The painting attests to Caracciolo's prominent role among the Caravaggesque painters at the heart of the Neapolitan School.