GIOVANNI BATTISTA CARACCIOLO (NAPLES 1578-NAPLES 1635)
Cupid Sleeping
c.1618RCIN 405747
The winged boy-god of love sleeps; his bow and arrows lie idle while flowers grow around him. The message is that we are only safe from Cupid’s mischief when he sleeps. Caracciolo’s inspiration here would seem to be Caravaggio’s own version of the subject (Palazzo Pitti, Florence).