* FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1640 - Lot 9

* FRENCH SCHOOL circa 1640 The crayfish child with a young girl and a cat Canvas Height : 92 cm Width : 114,5 cm Old restorations Inscribed on the right "163...". An original of Caravaggio's "Young Boy Pinched by a Crayfish" was reported at the Villa Borghese in 1650, but has since disappeared. Several copies have been preserved in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Strasbourg and Lyon, as well as in private collections. A version attributed to "Pensionante del Saraceni" was on the art market in the 2010s (Giancarlo Baroni collection). This composition can be compared with the Lombard master's "Boy Bitten by a Lizard", dated to the early 1590s, of which two replicas are known (at the Fondazione Longhi in Florence and the National Gallery in London). This innovative image for its time is marked by its naturalism and the way in which the action is captured in its spontaneity. It is interpreted either as an allegory of touch, or as a proverb (Qui s'y frotte s'y pique ) or an allegorical representation of the pain associated with love. Our painting takes up this popular motif of the screaming boy. Here, he is observed by a blonde girl with a mocking expression. His style is close to that of the Nordic painters, in particular the Dutch Caravaggio of the Utrecht school. The painter then added a cat in the lower right, which also adds a certain dynamism to the work. Its liveliness anchors the painting a little more firmly in everyday reality. !!! Please read carefully: This lot is to be picked up at the studio.