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Teasing a Sleeping Girl

ca. 1760
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 630
Traversi’s career is poorly documented, but he was unquestionably the leading genre painter in eighteenth-century Naples. He translated the half-length narrative compositions of high Baroque painters such as Caravaggio into parodic images of the social classes. Their emphatic naturalism and biting wit can be compared to the more famous English artist William Hogarth. In this characteristic example, an old man tickles a young girl who has fallen asleep with a box of keepsakes on her lap.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Teasing a Sleeping Girl
  • Artist: Gaspare Traversi (Italian, Neapolitan, ca. 1722–1770)
  • Date: ca. 1760
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 34 1/8 x 42 3/8 in. (86.7 x 107.6 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Harry G. Sperling, 1971
  • Object Number: 1976.100.19
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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Saint Margaret of Cortona, Gaspare Traversi Italian, Oil on canvas
Saint Margaret of Cortona
Gaspare Traversi
ca. 1758
Saint Francis, Federico Barocci Italian, Oil on canvas
Saint Francis
Federico Barocci
ca. 1600–1604
Head of an Old Woman, Orazio Borgianni Italian, Oil on canvas
Head of an Old Woman
Orazio Borgianni
after 1610
The Denial of Saint Peter, Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) Italian, Oil on canvas
The Denial of Saint Peter
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi)
1610
The Capture of Carthage, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Italian, Oil on canvas
The Capture of Carthage
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
1725–29

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