Boy Attacked by a Dog
by NÚÑEZ DE VILLAVICENCIO, Pedro, Oil on canvas, 97 x 137 cm
The catalogue of N�ñez de Villavicencio’s output is small, however, he was a skilled practitioner of the art. Most of the surviving works are genre scenes, which depart from the pictures by Murillo although they are not servile imitations. Boy Attacked by a Dog is more animated than the models provided by Murillo and is actually a playful paraphrase of the protagonist of Raphael’s Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple in the Stanza d’Eliodoro, Vatican Palace.
The artist probably painted this genre painting during his stay in Italy. The pendant of the painting, The Frightened Shepherd Boy is in the Galleria Estense in Modena.