Mario Minniti
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| - | '''''Boy Bitten by a Lizard''''' (''Ragazzo morso da un ramarro'') | ||
| - | is a painting by the [[Italy|Italian]] [[Baroque]] painter [[Caravaggio]]. It exists in two versions, both believed to be authentic, one in the [[Fondazione Roberto Longhi]] in [[Florence]], the other in the [[National Gallery, London|National Gallery]], [[London]]. Both are thought to date from the period 1594-1596, but given that it has all the signs of the early works painted in the household of Caravaggio's sophisticated patron [[Cardinal Francesco Del Monte]], and that Caravaggio didn't enter the Cardinal's Palazzo Madama until some time in 1595, the later end of this period seems more likely. The differences between the two versions are infinitesimal. | ||
| - | The painting shows a boy starting back in pain and shock as his finger is unexpectedly nipped by a small lizard hidden in some fruit. The boy's face is a study in emotions, the fruit and a nearby vase of flowers form acutely observed still life studies. The image shows Caravaggio's trademark [[chiaroscuro]] and physical realism - the boy has the usual dirty fingernails. The painting also contains complex sexual symbolism, which would have been quite clear to educated audiences in Caravaggio's day: The bared shoulder and the rose behind the boy's ear indicate excessive vanity and a wish to be seen and admired, the cherries symbolize sexual lust, the [[finger (gesture)|third finger]] had the same meaning in the seventeenth century as it does today, and the lizard was a metaphor for the penis. The boy becomes aware, with a shock, of the pains of physical love. | + | '''Mario Minniti''' (8 December 1577 – 22 November 1640) was an [[Italy|Italian]] artist active in Sicily after 1606. |
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| - | As with all of Caravaggio's early output, much remains conjectural. The boy may be [[Mario Minniti]], Caravaggio's companion and the model for several other paintings from the period - the bouffant dark curly hair and pursed lips look similar, but in other pictures such as ''[[Boy with a Basket of Fruit (Caravaggio)|Boy with a Basket of Fruit]]'' and ''[[The Fortune Teller (Caravaggio)|The Fortune Teller]]'' Mario doesn't look so effeminate. The affected pose may have been the inevitable result of the experiment Caravaggio appears to have been undertaking here: observing and recording acute emotions - surprise and disgust - in a situation where real surprise was impossible and where the pose had to be held for a considerable period. | + | |
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| - | Critics of Caravaggio's insistence on painting only from life would later point out this limitation of his method: it lent itself to marvelously realistic (if theatrical) static compositions, but not to scenes involving movement and violence. It would only be in his late period, when he seems to have worked more from imagination, that Caravaggio would be able to completely overcome this problem. Nevertheless, ''Boy Bitten by a Lizard'' is an important work in the artist's early oeuvre precisely because it shows a way out from the airless stillness of very early works such as ''[[Boy Peeling a Fruit (Caravaggio)|Boy Peeling a Fruit]]'' and ''[[Sick Bacchus (Caravaggio)|Sick Bacchus]]'', and even the implied violence but actual stasis of pieces such as ''[[Cardsharps (Caravaggio)|Cardsharps]]''. | + | |
| + | Born in [[Syracuse, Italy|Syracuse]], Sicily, he arrived in [[Rome]] in 1593, where he became the friend, collaborator and model of the key [[Baroque]] painter [[Caravaggio|Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio]] (1571-1610). His main fame today is his identification, or proposed identification, as a model in many of Caravaggio's early works, including ''[[Boy with a Basket of Fruit (Caravaggio)|Boy with a Basket of Fruit]]'', ''[[The Fortune Teller (Caravaggio)|The Fortune Teller]]'', ''[[The Musicians (Caravaggio)|The Musicians]]'', ''[[Boy Bitten by a Lizard (Caravaggio)|Boy Bitten by a Lizard]]'' (probable), ''[[Bacchus (Caravaggio)|Bacchus]]'', ''[[The Lute Player (Caravaggio)|The Lute Player]]'', ''[[The Calling of Saint Matthew (Caravaggio)|The Calling of Saint Matthew]]'', and ''[[The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (Caravaggio)|The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew]]''. | ||
| + | He ceases to appear as a model after about 1600, when he is believed to have married, but he may have been involved with Caravaggio and others in the 1606 street brawl which resulted in the death of Ranuccio Tomassoni at Caravaggio's hands - his biographer records that he fled to Sicily following a homicide, from where he petitioned for a pardon (it was eventually granted), and it is known that he sheltered Caravaggio on the latter's stay in Sicily in 1608-1609, procuring for him the important commission for the ''[[Burial of St. Lucy (Caravaggio)|Burial of Saint Lucy]] ''. In Sicily he established a successful workshop producing religious commissions and eventually became a respected local businessman. Because of the nature of his output, where paintings were produced as a collaborative effort by assistants and pupils, it is frequently difficult to identify exactly which works, or parts of works, are by Minniti's own hand. It is clear that he brought to Sicily the lessons he had learnt from Caravaggio, in particular the use of dramatic [[chiaroscuro]] and the depiction of scenes seized at the moment of greatest dramatic intensity, but his work (or rather his workshop's output) has been criticised for "endlessly recycled motifs" and "bland religious canvasses"{{Who|date=March 2009}}. Nevertheless, he is held in high regard in Sicily, and it is possible to speak of a 'School of Minniti' in the island's artistic history. | ||
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Mario Minniti (8 December 1577 – 22 November 1640) was an Italian artist active in Sicily after 1606.
Born in Syracuse, Sicily, he arrived in Rome in 1593, where he became the friend, collaborator and model of the key Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610). His main fame today is his identification, or proposed identification, as a model in many of Caravaggio's early works, including Boy with a Basket of Fruit, The Fortune Teller, The Musicians, Boy Bitten by a Lizard (probable), Bacchus, The Lute Player, The Calling of Saint Matthew, and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew.
He ceases to appear as a model after about 1600, when he is believed to have married, but he may have been involved with Caravaggio and others in the 1606 street brawl which resulted in the death of Ranuccio Tomassoni at Caravaggio's hands - his biographer records that he fled to Sicily following a homicide, from where he petitioned for a pardon (it was eventually granted), and it is known that he sheltered Caravaggio on the latter's stay in Sicily in 1608-1609, procuring for him the important commission for the Burial of Saint Lucy . In Sicily he established a successful workshop producing religious commissions and eventually became a respected local businessman. Because of the nature of his output, where paintings were produced as a collaborative effort by assistants and pupils, it is frequently difficult to identify exactly which works, or parts of works, are by Minniti's own hand. It is clear that he brought to Sicily the lessons he had learnt from Caravaggio, in particular the use of dramatic chiaroscuro and the depiction of scenes seized at the moment of greatest dramatic intensity, but his work (or rather his workshop's output) has been criticised for "endlessly recycled motifs" and "bland religious canvasses"Template:Who. Nevertheless, he is held in high regard in Sicily, and it is possible to speak of a 'School of Minniti' in the island's artistic history.
