A bearded man, still enjoying youth, holds up a paper lantern flared with vertical slit folds. Over his left shoulder he carries an houlette, a shepherd’s tool used to ward off predators, establishing a bucolic identity consistent with his simple garb. The half-length presentation of a starkly-lit figure set against a dark background and the everyday theme decisively place this canvas among the works of the followers of Caravaggio (1571–1610) in Rome in the 1610s and 1620s, when this style enjoyed widespread popularity.