Wilmoth 1 Bethany Wilmoth Dr. Gonzalez ART- 3633-29505 12 February 2021 Caravaggio: Boy Bitten by a Lizard First looking at Caravaggio’s painting Boy Bitten by a Lizard, I was a bit confused. You see, I picked this art piece because of its odd title. Allow me to explain. I have become used to such paintings to be call something relating to whatever is depicted. For example, the painting Girl with the Pearl Earring clearly shows a girl adorned with a pearl earring. The title of the painting is almost obvious to any viewer, even at a quick glance. The reason Caravaggio’s piece threw me off so much was the fact that at first glance, there was no lizard to be seen. It was not until after a minute or so of zooming in and adjusting the brightness of my laptop, did the tiny reptile appear from the shadows. A table sits in the foreground decked with what appears to be a collection of fruit. Latched onto the boy’s finger, this lizard can barely be seen in the foliage. A look of pain almost ripples in motion across the subject’s face. His far hand is thrown back, slightly out of focus. At first, one could assume that this is simply because the limb is not part of to focal point. However, to me this blurred and softened depiction gives the idea of action frozen in time – a “snapshot” if you will. A similar thing could be said about the tunic draped loosely around the boy’s frame. His bare shoulder juts forward, slipping out of the cotton colored undershirt, as the crimson sash is shown still flung in the air. Even his fluffy locks of hair have a sight lean backwards, full of kinetic energy due to his reaction. Wilmoth 2 Another thing I took into notice was the overall status of the boy. He appears to come from some sort of wealth or at least what one would call a “comfortable” life. There is a flower tucked almost carefree behind his ear and his hands are clean and dainty. A fresh bouquets sits alongside the abundance of food on his table. There is no evidence that this character has had to work hard for much in his life. I would assume that he has never known any real struggle or heartache. I want to take a moment to go back to the image of the lizard and his façade within the fruit and greenery. I feel that there was significance to the fact that I could not see the creature at first glance. Although there is a look of pain on the boy’s face, you can also pick out some traces of surprise and almost betrayal. His eyebrows are furrowed, not quite in anger but with the expression that he is in disbelief of being deceived. The appearance of harmless and innocent ‘grapes’ set off no alarm of caution, thus creating a near core shaking shock when unexpected pain was presented. It is clear that this boy did not originally see the reptile, just as I did not. This can be seen as a metaphor or even a warning in a way. One must be careful and aware before diving into an idea, project, relationship, or etc. regardless of how inviting and innocuous it may seem. We do not know what possible threats lurk in the shadows. It is the concept that beautiful roses still have thorns. Yet, this correlates with another thought. The purpose of the thorns on the rose is for protection. If you reach for the flower, chances are you will be pricked, for the rose wants to continue to grow and live as is. Similar, the boy in the painting stretched out and put his hand in the lizard’s face. The lizard, seeing this giant object moving towards him, may have felt threatened and in alarm, lunged out in hopes of protection. With that, we can again go back to the status of the subject. As he gives off a carefree ambiance, chances are he does not know to be wary or examine the fruit for danger. It is Wilmoth 3 unlikely, he has ever experienced any repercussions for his actions in the past, therefore the shock on his face is the disbelief of experiencing something besides pleasure for the first time.
