Boy bitten by a mouse,
oil on canvas, 68 x 50 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection V. Mameli, Rome, 1954;
Private collection, Florence;
Private European collection.

Literature:
A. Moir, Caravaggio and his copyists, New York 1976, p. 136, no. 51iii, fig. 6 (as Anonymous);
F. Scaletti, Caravaggio. Catalogo ragionato delle opere autografe, attribuite e controverse, Naples 2017, pp. 65-66, fig. 67 (as ‘Pittore caravaggesco’);
A. Moir, Caravaggio and His Copyist, New York 1976, p. 136, fig. 6 (as ‘Anonymous’);
M. Brusatin, Storia delle immagini, Turin 1989, fig. 36 (as ‘Anonimo’);
M. Marini, Caravaggio ‘Pictor praestantissimus’. L’iter artistico complete di uno dei massimi rivoluzionari dell’arte di tutti i tempi, Rome 1987, II ed. 1989, p. 342 (as Master K);
B. Nicolson, L. Vertova, Caravaggism in Europe, Turin 1990, vol. I, pp. 89-90 (mentioned under no. 4), fig. 4B;
G. Berra, La ‘Medusa tutta serpegiata’ del Caravaggio: fonti mitologico-letterarie e figurative, in: Caravaggio la Medusa: lo splendore degli scudi da parata del Cinquecento, exhibition catalogue, Milan 2004, pp. 55-83, fig. 24 (as ‘Anonimo pittore caravaggesco’);
G. Berra, Il ‘Ragazzo morso da un ramarro’ del Caravaggio. L’enigma di un morso improvviso, in: Valori tattili, San Casciano Val di Pesa 2016, pp. 36-37, fig. 16 (as ‘Anonimo’)

The present painting can be compared to Caravaggio’s early Roman compositions, and the present painting appears to be by an artist who was close to his immediate circle, not only on account of its quality and style, but also because of the implicit understanding of the type of subject which interested Caravaggio. The features of the boy can be compared to those of Caravaggio’s Boy bitten by a lizard in the National Gallery, London and the Medusa in the Uffizi, Florence while the drapery has much in common with the Bacchus in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. This present work can also be compared to the Boy bitten by a crayfish in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg, currently catalogued as ‘Attributed to Pensionante del Saraceni’ (see op. cit. Nicolson/Vertova, 1990, vol. II, fig. 4 - as ‘Caravaggesque Unknown, Roman-Based’).

This work was first published when it was part of the Mameli collection in Rome, before entering a private collection in Florence. A second version of this composition (with similar measurements 67 x 52 cm) is in the Borromeo collection in Stresa, Isola Bella. (see P. Della Pergola, Breve nota per Caravaggio, in: Commentari, anno XXIV, I-II, January – June 1973, pp. 50-57). Both canvases have been published, but their provenances have often been confused with one another. This is in part due to them being of similar quality and due to their unusual subject matter. The boy’s surprise stems from an unexpected bite on his index finger by a mouse attached to a string, which he tries to wrench away with his free hand.