Tomaso Salini, follower of

The painting appears to be the work of the same hand as a group of works which were until recently attributed to the Roman painter (and associate of
Caravaggio) Tommaso Salini, called Mao. For this group see in particular V.
Markova, 'Alcune nuove proposte per Tommaso Salini', G. Papi, 'Un tema caravaggesco fra i quadri di figura di Tommaso Salini', and M. Gregori, 'Altre aggiunte a Tommaso Salini', all in Paragone, Anno XL, Nuova serie, Arte no. 17, vol. 475, September 1989, pp. 26-57, colour pls. II-III and figs. 24-55 and 57-8. It is, however, now generally accepted that the paintings must date from after Salini's death around 1625 and more towards the middle of the 17th century. Several of them have Spanish provenances and some have more recently been published by R. González Ramos, Pedro Núñez de Villavicencio. Caballero Pintor, Seville, 1999, pp. 139-41, cat. nos. 12-13, and pp. 178-82, figs. 14-15, as by Pedro Núñez.

Particularly fine examples, both showing Boys resting from the Hunt in a Forest Clearing, were sold from Carlton Towers at Sotheby's, London, 4 November 2009, lot 80 (with a traditional attribution to Murillo), and at Christie's, London, 3 December 2008, lot 262 (both called ' Circle of Salini').