Pedro Núñez de Villavicencio (Seville 1640-c. 1695-8)

This canvas is a recently rediscovered presentation modello of the large masterpiece Boys playing dice, that was painted and given by Villavicencio circa 1692-94, to King Carlos II of Spain, and that is now in the Prado, Madrid. The Prado picture is of vertical format, having had an addition made to the upper part by Luca Giordano (see fig. 1). We are grateful to Professor Enrique Valdivieso for drawing our attention to the Prado picture and for confirming the attribution on the basis of photographs.