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| Title | Boy Holding a Caricature | |
| Alternative Title | A Page | |
| Collection | Holburne Museum of Art, Bath | |
| Artist | Attributed to Amorosi, Antonio (Italian painter, 1660-1738) Previously attributed to Piazzetta, Giovanni Battista (Italian painter and printmaker, 1682-1754) Previously attributed to Velázquez, Diego (Spanish painter, 1599-1660) |
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| Date Earliest | about 1700 | |
| Date Latest | 1738 | |
| Description | A large part of the Roman artist Antonio Amorosi's output for the rest of his career consisted of half-length pictures of young children, with large eyes and winning expressions, holding a toy, a pet or something to eat. This boy, elegantly dressed in an old-fashioned doublet with gold lace and an extravagantly plumed cap, laughingly holds up a drawing of a beak-nosed head that contrasts with his own soft features. The practice of caricature had become a popular new amusement in Rome during the seventeenth century, and Amorosi was known as a humourist. Amorosi's painting has been neatly labelled on the back of the stretcher by Sir William Holburne: 'Portrait of Murillo, with his first sketch, by Velasquez.' |
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| Current Accession Number | A58 | |
| Subject | figure | |
| Measurements | 44.7 x 36.7 cm cm (estimate) | |
| Material | oil on canvas | |
| Acquisition Details | Bequeathed by Miss Mary Anne Barbara Holburne 1882. | |
| Provenance | Sir Thomas William Holburne, by 1867-74; by descent to Mary Anne Barbara Holburne (1802-1882), 1874. | |
| Principal Exhibitions | Italian Treasures: Victorian and Edwardian Taste in Italian Art, Holburne Museum & Crafts Study Centre, Bath, May - June 1987, cat. no. 16. | |
| Publications | The Holburne of Menstrie Museum Catalogue, Part I: Pictures, Bath, 1936, ill. plate 12a, as by Piazzetta; L'Opera completa di Antonio Amorosi, no. A9, ill. p. 117, as Un paggio; Wright, C., Old Master Paintings in Britain: An Index of Continental Old Master Paintings Executed before c.1800 in Public Collections in the United Kingdom, London, 1976, p. 159, as A Page by Piazzetta. | |
| Notes | Previous attributions: Catalogue of the Pictures and Library, Engravings, Etchings and Miniatures, Belonging to Sir Thomas William Holburne, Bart., Bath, 1867, cat. no. 172: 'Velasquez' (back drawingroom); Catalogue of the Holburne of Menstrie Art Museum by W.Chaffers, London, 1887, cat. no. 1491: 'Velasquez'; F. Möckler, Holburne of Menstrie Art Museum, Bath, 1902, cat. no. 213: 'after Diego Velasquez'; remarks on the paintings by Ayerst. H. Buttery, 1906, in the form of annotations to the 1902 catalogue: 'French School'; Notes by Hugh Blaker, Curator 1905-1913, cat. no. 58: 'after Velasquez'; Sir Claude Phillips, 1918: 'Italian School XVII cent'; hand written register of paintings, watercolours and miniatures, giving inventory numbers with ‘A' prefix still in use, by G. Holden, Curator 1917-1926, compiled shortly after move to Sydney Hotel, cat. no. 58: 'Venetian School XVII cent.'; The Holburne of Menstrie Museum Catalogue, Part I: Pictures, Bath, 1927, cat. no. 173: 'Piazzetta'; The Holburne of Menstrie Museum Catalogue, Part I: Pictures, Bath, 2nd edition, 1936, cat. no. 157: 'Piazzetta'; Martin: Piazzetta; Courtauld list, 1971, cat. no. 212: Piazzetta; Christopher Wright, 1976: Piazzetta; 1976: Giovanni Battista Piazzetta; Gavin Graham, 1983: Antonio Amorosi; 1987: Amorosi. | |
| Rights Owner | © The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath | |
| Author | Amina Wright | |