References Inventario di tutti li mobili esistenti nell Pallazzo di Bol.a dell già Ill.mo S.re Co. Girolamo et hora dell'Ill.mo S.re Co. Camillo Ranucci Mang.oli suo Figliolo . August 26, 1667, f. 5r [Archivio di Stato, Bologna, Fondo Pepoli, Serie VI eredità 8 Ranuzzi-Manzoli . . . Rogato di Carlo Ant.o Mandini no. 334 Lib. H 26 August 1667 (a second, less legible copy of the inventory exists in the Archivio di Stato, Bologna, no. 4863)], as "due figure et un gatto," without attribution.Letter to Leopoldo de' Medici . January 1671 [Archivio di Stato, Florence, Carteggio d'Artisti XIII: Lista di Anonimo a Leopoldo de' Medici, carta 272; published in Ref. Mazza 1993, p. 421].Letter to Leopoldo de' Medici . January 10, 1671 [Archivio di Stato, Florence, Carteggio d'Artisti XIII: Lista di Annibale Ranuzzi a Leopoldo de' Medici, carta 275; published in Ref. Mazza 1993, p. 421], lists it as part of Camillo Ranuzzi's collection; values it at 1,500 lire and describes it as "un contadino, una fanciulla e un gatto," by Annibale Carracci.Compra di Gianbattista Savoia da Co. Camillo Ranuzzi Manzoli di vari pezzi di Pitture di buoni Maestri per L 4000 così valutate . December 24, 1671 [Archivio di Stato, Bologna, Rog.to di Lorenzo Garoffali No. 350 Lib. H, Fondo Pepoli, Serie VI eredità 8 Ranuzzi-Manzoli], lists it as "Il Quadro del Gambaro del Sig. Anibale Carazza con sua cornice dorata," with a value of 1,500 lire.Inventario delli Mobili, Stabili, Robbe, beni, Crediti, Debiti, e Scritture, che si sono ritrovati al tempo della morte del Quondam Ill.mo Sig. Co. Camillo Ranuzzi Manzoli . . . . January 27, 1679, no. 9 [Archivio di Stato, Bologna, Scritti div. Segn. orig. XLVII, no. 34, f. 189; original copy is in Archivio di Stato, Bologna, Notarile Garofali, 6–17: 27 January 1679], lists it as "scherzo del gatto, e Gambaro d''Annibale Carazza'," with a value of 400 lire; includes a copy of the picture under no. 55.Galleria di pitture dell'emo, e rmo principe, signor cardinale Tommaso Ruffo vescovo di Palestrina, e di Ferrara, ecc.: Rime, e prose . Ferrara, 1734, pp. 60–61, lists it and includes a poem celebrating the vivid realism of the scene.Letter to Charles Greville . August 2, 1774 [published in "The Hamilton & Nelson Papers," vol. 1, 1893, in "The Collection of Autograph Letters and Historical Documents formed by Alfred Morrison," 13 vols., London, 1883–97, letter no. 37], describes negotiations with the Baranello family regarding the purchase of this painting; refers to it as by Annibale and calls the character of the boy and girl "vulgar, but finely touched".Letter to Charles Greville . December 20, 1774 [published in "The Hamilton & Nelson Papers," vol. 1, 1893, in "The Collection of Autograph Letters and Historical Documents formed by Alfred Morrison," 13 vols., London, 1883–97, letter no. 40].Letter to Charles Greville . March 17, 1776 [published in "The Hamilton & Nelson Papers," vol. 1, 1893, in "The Collection of Autograph Letters and Historical Documents formed by Alfred Morrison," 13 vols., London, 1883–97, letter no. 71], writes that it has been shipped to Greville.Letter to Charles Greville . January 30, 1776 [published in "The Hamilton & Nelson Papers," vol. 1, 1893, in "The Collection of Autograph Letters and Historical Documents formed by Alfred Morrison," 13 vols., London, 1883–97, letter no. 62], writes that he has succeeded in buying this picture from Baranello for Greville.Catalogue of the Collection of Castle Howard . n.d., no. 125 [see Ref. Waagen 1854].Inventory of Castle Howard . 1825, unnumbered.Treasures of Art in Great Britain . London, 1854, vol. 3, p. 325, quotes from a printed Castle Howard catalogue in which our picture is listed as no. 125 and described as a 'very animated and humorous' work by Annibale Carracci [see Ref. Carlisle n.d.].Paragone , 89th ser., 8 (May 1957), p. 39, pl. 23, dates it 1583–84, grouping Annibale's genre images around the years of the "Mangiafagioli" (Galleria Colonna, Rome).Annibale Carracci: A Study in the Reform of Italian Painting around 1590 . New York, 1971, vol. 2, p. 78, no. 184[R], rejects the attribution to Annibale; suggests that it might be a variant of a picture listed as by Agostino Carracci in a 1680 inventory of the Palazzo del Giardino, Parma [see Notes].in L'opera completa di Annibale Carracci . Milan, 1976, p. 128, no. 162, ill., includes it with "Further attributed works".Giuseppe Maria Crespi . Milan, 1980, p. 208 n. 14, referring to the citation to this painting when it was in the Ruffo collection [see Ref. Agnelli 1734], includes it among lost paintings by Annibale.Hamilton a Napoli: Cultura, svaghi, civiltà di una grande capitale europea . Naples, 1990, pp. 71, 73, discusses Sir William Hamilton's efforts to purchase this painting from the Baranello family in Naples in the mid 1770s [see Refs. Hamilton 1774 and 1776].Il Cardinal Leopoldo . 2, Milan, 1993, vol. 1, p. 421, doc. 625, publishes excerpts of letters to Leopoldo de' Medici [see Refs. Ranuzzi 1671 and Unknown 1671].Letter to Keith Christiansen . May 16, 1994, suggests a date of about 1590, tentatively attributing it to Annibale on the basis of similarities with the artist's frescoes in the Palazzo Magnani, Bologna.Burlington Magazine 137 (March 1995), p. 202, relates it to a drawing of a boy bitten by a crayfish by Sofonisba Anguissola (Museo di Capodimonte, Naples).Nuovi studi 1 (1996), p. 110 n. 8, rejects Longhi's date of 1583–84 [see Ref. 1957] and suggests the painting is closer to the time of the decoration of the Palazzo Magnani (ca. 1589–90), in which he detects similarities to the head of the girl in the MMA picture.in "I cinque sensi da Aristotele a Costantin Brancusi." Immagini del sentire: I cinque sensi nell'arte . Exh. cat.n.p., 1996, p. 37, fig. 14 (color), attributes it to Agostino or Annibale Carracci and suggests that it might represent the sense of touch.in Ian Jenkins and Kim Sloan. Vases & Volcanoes: Sir William Hamilton and His Collection . Exh. cat., British Museum. London, 1996, p. 84, suggests that Hamilton visited the Baranello collection in Naples in 1769 with his nephew Charles Greville, for whom Hamilton later negotiated the purchase of this painting.Vincenzo Campi . Soncino, 1997, pp. 156, 158 nn. 30, 31, fig. 50, attribute it to Annibale; erroneously refer to the painting recorded in the Ranuzzi collection in 1671 [see Ref.] as a different work from the MMA picture, and note that "both" paintings match the description of the Farnese version [see Notes].Wall Street Journal (August 7, 1998), p. W12, ill. (color).Bologna al tempo di Cavazzoni: Approfondimenti . Bologna, 1999, p. 146.Letter to Keith Christiansen . February 21, 1999, states that it was part of Camillo Ranuzzi's collection, housed in the Palazzo di Mirabello, inventoried in 1678.Studi di storia dell'arte in onore di Denis Mahon . Milan, 2000, pp. 123–31, figs. 1–3 (overall and details), attributes it to Annibale and accepts Benati's dating of about 1590 [see Ref. 1994]; traces the provenance of the picture in detail; believes that a painting of two youths by Burrini in the Galleria Campori, Modena, shows the influence of this picture.in Vincenzo Campi: Scene del quotidiano . Exh. cat., Museo Civico di Cremona. Milan, 2000, pp. 98, 101 n. 62, fig. 14, attributes it to Annibale and dates it slightly before 1590.Il Carrobbio 27 (2001), pp. 91–92, 95, 101 n. 11, ill.in Painters of Reality: The Legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardy . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2004, p. 11, fig. 10 (color detail) [Italian ed., "Pittori della realtà: le ragioni di una rivoluzione da Foppa e Leonardo a Caravaggio e Ceruti," (Milan), 2004, pp. 22–23, fig. 9 (detail)].in Painters of Reality: The Legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardy . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2004, p. 176, no. 69, ill. (color) [Italian ed., "Pittori della realtà: le ragioni di una rivoluzione da Foppa e Leonardo a Caravaggio e Ceruti," (Milan), 2004, pp. 240–41, ill. (color)].in Painters of Reality: The Legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardy . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2004, p. 199 [Italian ed., "Pittori della realtà: le ragioni di una rivoluzione da Foppa e Leonardo a Caravaggio e Ceruti," (Milan), 2004, p. 201].Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 62 (Winter 2005), pp. 17, 19–20, 26, 41, fig. 13 (color).in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Chefs-d'œuvre de la peinture européenne . Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 2006.in Annibale Carracci . Exh. cat., Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna. Milan, 2006, pp. 89, 120–21, no. II.14, ill. (color).in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Chefs-d'œuvre de la peinture européenne . Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 2006, pp. 36–38, no. 3, ill. (color).in Philippe de Montebello and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977–2008 . New York, 2009, p. 37.
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