Boy Bitten by a Lizard:

A Warning of the Perils of Temptation

Ashley MacPherson
ARTH 2720-005: Art History (Renaissance to Contemporary)
T, TH, 2:30-3:50pm
May 1, 2014











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Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was anything but the average painter of his time. His
intense realism presented dramatic depictions of his subject matter. The realism was not only
seen in his style, but in the subject matter itself. He often painted historical stories, but with a
current and relatable twist. A painting that demonstrates the significant nature of his work is Boy
Bitten by a Lizard. This painting, oil on canvas, was created in the early 1590s after he moved to
Rome, Italy in 1592.
1
It is modest in size at 66X49.5 cm, and it is believed that up to 10 copies
were produced after the original was created, many by Caravaggio himself. The painting that is
believed to be the original by many is currently hanging in the National Gallery in London. I
choose this piece because I have an interest in Caravaggio and his ability to convey the emotions
that many are feeling and thinking, but are afraid to express, in a way that was starkly daring for
his time. He is a realist and represents the world around him as it is. He does not attempt to make
events appear to be better than they are; he shows them as they are. This painting specifically is a
warning that people today still need. It shows that there is temptation, and the danger of it biting
you is real. Boy Bitten by a Lizard is a painting with great importance because of its realism,
ideological associations with temptation, and because it deviates from other art that was
happening at the time.
Boy Bitten by a Lizard is a painting with intricate detail and realism. The main character
of the painting is a young boy that is recoils his arm in a quick pain inflicted motion in front of a
neutrally dark wall. The face of the young man is tense with immediate agony. There is a vase
with Jasmine and a rose to the left of the boy. Also there is a set of cherries and other autumn
associated fruits and leaves. The obvious narrative is of a boy that has innocently reached into
the vegetation in front of only to be bitten on the finger by a hidden lurking lizard. The pain and

1
Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael Cothren. "Seventeenth-Century Art in Europe." In Art history. 5th ed. (Boston:
Pearson Education, Inc., 2014) 722.

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shock of the boy from the bite is visible in the facial expression and gesture of the boy. Many
people believe that the boy was rendered as a semi self portrait, with Caravaggio actually looking
in a mirror and making the facial expressions himself and then painting what he saw.
There are many items in the paintings that are symbolic and retain a deeper meaning than
first appears to the viewer. The boy himself is a representation of youth and innocence. Also he
is showing the transition from sexual curiosity to a harsh knowledge.
2
The glass and the roses
can be reference to the fragility of youth. The symbolism present in the lizard is that of lust.
3

The lizard is the temptation and lust that the youth has sought after without the knowledge that it
could in turn bite him. The reality of lust and its typical heartbreak that can accompany it is
embodied by the boy being bitten by the reptile. The cherries are a representation of the
inevitable passage of life and youth.
4

The overall theme of Boy Bitten by a Lizard is a warning of the dangers of lust and a
relationship built on only the physical facet. The tunic that is worn by the boy is falling of his
shoulder exposing his skin and adds an erotic charge to the painting.
5
A sense of the youthful
young mans previous satisfaction in the touch of the fruits is especially assumed by the shock
that is expressed on his face by the bite. Caravaggio uses his skills to express these ideas not only
in the iconography within the painting, but through the facial expression
6
and gesture
7
of the

2
Hunt, Patrick, and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Caravaggio. London: (Haus Publishing Limited, 2004) 22.

3
Ibid., 22.

4
Puglisi, Catherine R., and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Caravaggio. (London: Phaidon, 1998) 65.

5
Ibid., 61.

6
Puglisi., 62.

7
Varriano, John L., and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Caravaggio: the art of realism. (University Park, Pa.:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006) 105.

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subject. It is message to the masses that elicit pleasure will come around to bite you when you
least expect it. There are also themes a growth and the transition from youth into adulthood.
8
The
innocence and exploration of youth can be snatched away within immature intimacy.
9
The young
boy thinks he knows what he is doing by engaging in sexual activity, but perhaps he is more
fragile that he thought. Lust can come in and break the purity of youth in an instant.
At the time the Boy Bitten by a Lizard was created, 1590s, Rome, its birthplace, was a
dangerous mess.
10
Caravaggio had made his was to Rome, Italy in 1592. With little money to his
name and hardly anyone willing to buy his paintings at the time, Caravaggio was the
stereotypical starving artist. His life in the streets of Rome involved a great deal of drinking,
partying, soliciting prostitutes, and some even venture to say selling women to lustful men. This
taboo lifestyle was not conducive to attracting the typical wealthy and religious patron. Many of
the painters at the time would be commissioned by the patron to create what they were told to
create. Caravaggio was different, while he eventually did gain commissions; he still painted what
he wanted to paint. Boy Bitten by a Lizard is a painting that he created outside of a commission
with his own message built in to himself and his peers. He recognized the ailments of Rome and
painted of them. The typical paintings of the time were religious in subject, and this was not,
making it even more special. The exact date of the creation and sale of the painting is widely
debated as is the historical chronology of the years completing the decade after Caravaggios
arrival in Rome in 1592.
11


8
Puglisi, 65.
9
Puglisi, Catherine R., and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Caravaggio. (London: Phaidon, 1998) 65.
10
Ibid., 52.
11
Puglisi, 53.
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Boy Bitten by a Lizard is often associated with two other paintings, Self Portrait as
Bacchus and Boy Peeling a Fruit.
12
They were believed to be fashioned around the same time
and each maintains a similar theme and electric energy. It is believed that he was ill at the time
he produced Boy Bitten by a Lizard. Each of the paintings has similar looking young men and the
presence of carefully selected still life objects and vegetation. They each share the same dramatic
set up with light and shadow through his implementation of chiaroscuro. The effect creates a
theatrical effect enlightening the subject in a dramatically fashioned light of importance. The
paintings all seem to also pass through the typical barrier between the subject and the viewer.
The message and warning of the perils of lust is for the viewer so why would Caravaggio want to
cut them off from the scene.
Caravaggio was a powerful painter. Boy Bitten by a Lizard is a commanding painting
that demonstrates not only his ability to create a work of art with precise detail, but also to create
an emotional connection to the average person, or even the lower class peers that he had. The
subject matter was revolutionarily different from the art that was being created at the time. It was
also one of the first paintings to show a moment of action. The expression of the face is so
perfect that your mind completes the auditory sensation of the boy screaming that is visible. The
gesture is also and innovation that was not usually used by Caravaggio or other paintings before
this one. The acknowledgment of the issues facing the city of Rome and within himself Boy
Bitten by a Lizard makes Caravaggio a particularly honest and vulnerable artist.





12
Puglisi, 53.
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Bibliography
Hunt, Patrick, and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Caravaggio. London: Haus Publishing
Limited, 2004.
Puglisi, Catherine R., and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Caravaggio. London: Phaidon,
1998.
Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael Cothren. "Seventeenth-Century Art in Europe." In Art history.
5th ed. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2014.
Varriano, John L., and Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Caravaggio: the art of realism.
University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006.