Caravaggio's The Lute Player exists in three versions: one in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the second currently in a private collection and the third from the private Wildenstein Collection. Today, we present the last one. Three paintings of almost the same dimensions depict a boy with soft facial features and unusually thick brown hair, pouting lips, a half-open mouth, and a pensive expression beneath sharply drawn broad eyebrows. His white shirt is open at the front, revealing the artist's intention to paint a nude. A ribbon woven into the figure's hair emphasizes its almost androgynous features. The same applies to a broad yoke that divides his shirt under his chest like a woman's dress. Recently it has been suggested that the model was a castrato. Light falls from a high window above left, creating a narrow triangle of brightness in the upper right-hand corner. The brightly illuminated figure stands out boldly against the shadowy background.
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P.P.S. Caravaggio was an iconic painter of the Baroque. Get to know his art through 10 of his marvelous paintings! Below you'll find even more articles about his art!