Portrait of a Boy
Artist: Louis Léopold Boilly (French, 1761–1845)
Original Dimensions: 28 7/16" x 23 3/8"
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
About Artwork: (ca. 1805) "Dressed stylishly in emulation of Mamluk warriors who came to Paris with Napoleon from Egypt after 1798, this puckish boy clutches his toys jealously—even as he holds out the possibility of a ball toss. The early history of the portrait remains unknown, as does the child’s identity, though the well-appointed interior and overall effect of playful indulgence point to aristocratic origins. Though Mamluk populations expanded in Paris at the brink of the nineteenth century, the absorption of their art and culture into French painting often took the form of exoticized depictions such as this that freely mixed authentic and imagined objects." - (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

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