Full of life and movement, the vivacious young page is shown as if caught on the spur of the moment, grasping the hand of an accompanying adult and turning back to indicate to the viewer that something beyond the confines of the composition has caught his attention. This study has been related to a similar figure of a child in contemporary dress in a painting commissioned in 1589 and dispatched by the artist from Rome to Cesena in 1601, though there is no direct correspondence in pose.
Cavaliere d'Arpino (Giuseppe Cesari, 1568-1640), Child Walking, Looking Over Its Shoulder
, Black and red chalk, Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1910
, IV, 161a