By Luciano Migliaccio
According to Robaut, the picture Young Man with Naked Shoulder was painted sometime between 1830 and 1840. It is a small sketch done with swift, decisive brush strokes that synthesize the outline of figures. Possibly, as suggested by Camesasca (1979, p. 36), the work was produced in about 1835, during one of the painter’s trips to Italy. The unadorned formal presentation, the constructive brush strokes and lighting, as well as the subject indicate a study of the youthful painting of Caravaggio and Rembrandt.

— Luciano Migliaccio, 1998

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