|
In a room containing shelves and a table, a young man is about to start playing the recorder. Placed on the shelves are bowls, plates and jugs as well as bread and cheese. A small cheese (or head of garlic) hangs precariously from a string tied around a nail on the front of the shelf. On a table, diagonally receding to both left and right, is a glass vase full of water. Other containers on the table are surrounded by single pieces of fruit, a teething ring and a violin and bow.
The Young Man Holding a Recorder was at one stage attributed to Louis Finson, but is now almost universally accepted as the work of Cecco del Caravaggio. However, doubts are still being voiced about a possible collaboration with a specialist in still-life painting. The subject of an instrumentalist derives from Caravaggio's Lute Player (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), and in this case the artist must have been a friend, student or model of Caravaggio's. The mysterious figure of 'Francesco, called Cecco del Caravaggio' mentioned by Giulio Mancini, has recently acquired a slightly more precise identity. The examination of known works by this artist led to the hypothesis that he was from France, Flanders or Spain.
|
