Description
Boy with a Basket of Fruit is one of the first paintings Caravaggio made in Rome, around 1593: a dark-haired boy in a loose white shirt that has slipped from one shoulder holds a woven basket heaped with grapes, peaches, pears, apples, figs and pomegranates. The original, oil on canvas, is 70 cm high and 67 cm wide and belongs to the Galleria Borghese in Rome. Our painter paints it for you by hand in oils on canvas, in 8 sizes from 43 x 47 to 190 x 200 cm or made to measure, and before it leaves us we send you a photograph of the finished painting.
| Title: | Boy with a Basket of Fruit |
| Other titles: | Fanciullo con canestro di frutta · Knabe mit Fruchtkorb |
| Painter: | Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) |
| Year painted: | c. 1593 |
| Original size: | 70 cm x 67 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Baroque, tenebrism |
| Located at: | Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Boy with a Basket of Fruit – Caravaggio
What does Boy with a Basket of Fruit show?
On a nearly square canvas we see a young lad down to the waist. His short dark hair is curly; he tilts his head a little and looks past us, off to the right. He wears a wide white shirt that has slid down from his right shoulder, leaving the shoulder bare.
He wraps both arms around a large wicker basket and holds it close in front of him. It is piled high: bunches of black, reddish and white grapes, peaches with red cheeks, pears, apples, dark figs and a split pomegranate showing its red seeds. Green vine leaves push up between the fruit, and on the right a big leaf, already yellowed and spotted, hangs over the rim.
Behind him there is only a bare, light-brown wall. Light falls from the upper left, picking out the face, the shoulder and the fruit, and casts a slanting shadow across the wall.
What does the scene with the fruit mean?
Caravaggio is not telling a story from the Bible or from myth here. Wikipedia quotes the art historian Gregori, for whom the subject is exactly what meets the eye: a young seller with a basket full of fruit and leaves that are still fresh.
Hermann Fiore recalls the Roman custom of xenia, the gifts of fruit and vegetables offered to guests in aristocratic households.
Jules Janick, a professor of horticulture at Purdue University in Indiana, studied the fruit in the basket closely. He found that Caravaggio prettified nothing: some leaves carry fungal spots, and one even bears a cluster of insect eggs. In these small flaws some interpreters see a quiet hint that even ripe fruit does not keep for long.
Why is this painting so famous?
Because the young Caravaggio shows here that he can paint a person and a still life with equal conviction. Skin, white shirt, woven wicker, the velvety bloom of the peach and the translucent grapes all receive the same care.
Wikipedia points to the light: a ray enters from a window high on the left, slides across the wall and draws the boy and the basket out of the half-dark.
The work belongs to his first Roman years, when he had arrived from Milan as a young painter and was still finding his place. His model was his friend, the Sicilian painter Mario Minniti. The English Wikipedia article sets out the different readings.
Where is the original, and how did it reach the Galleria Borghese?
The original is kept in the Galleria Borghese in Rome under inventory number 136.
It first belonged to the collection of the painter Giuseppe Cesari, known as the Cavalier d’Arpino. Caravaggio worked for a time in his workshop, where according to Wikipedia he painted flowers and fruit, so the picture may date from those months.
In 1607 Cardinal Scipione Borghese seized Cesari’s collection and kept the painting for himself. Young Sick Bacchus reached the cardinal by the same route and today belongs to the same museum.
Boy with a Basket of Fruit or another Caravaggio?
This is a canvas painting for anyone who loves markets, gardens and a generous table. It sits best in a kitchen, a dining room or a café.
If a related subject appeals, look at Boy Peeling Fruit, where another lad peels a small green fruit with a knife. If you would like the fruit alone, with no figure, turn to Still Life with Fruit on a Stone Ledge, attributed to Caravaggio.
Livelier, and from the same Roman years, is The Fortune Teller, in which a young woman reads the palm of an elegant young man. On our Caravaggio page you can set the famous Caravaggio paintings we offer side by side.
How does our painter paint Boy with a Basket of Fruit?
We start only once your order arrives, laying the oil paint onto the canvas one layer over another. The painter first puts down a warm mid-brown ground, then sketches the head, the shoulder, the hands and the outline of the basket with a fine brush.
Next he builds the colour from the shadows up to the lights. Face and shoulder get warm, living flesh tones, the white shirt soft grey folds, and the basket a weave that grows row by row. The fruit takes longest: each grape needs its own tiny highlight, the peach a soft passage into red, and the yellowed leaf the brown spots Caravaggio painted on it.
This Caravaggio reproduction has a real, lively surface, and in light from the side the brushstrokes show. As an oil painting reproduction full of warm reds, yellows and greens it looks fresh by day, and in the evening, under a lamp, the fruit glows even more.
Which size suits which wall?
In short: 43 x 47 or 60 x 60 cm for a kitchen or above a chest of drawers, 70 x 70 or 80 x 80 cm for a dining room or hallway, 98 x 104 or 130 x 130 cm above a sofa or dining table, and 150 x 150 or 190 x 200 cm for a large wall.
We paint this work in 8 sizes (width x height): 43 x 47, 60 x 60, 70 x 70, 80 x 80, 98 x 104, 130 x 130, 150 x 150 and 190 x 200 cm. The closest to the original is 70 x 70 cm, the same height and only 3 cm wider; 60 x 60 cm is 7 cm narrower and 10 cm shorter than the original.
The original is small, so every size from 80 x 80 cm upwards is larger than Caravaggio’s canvas, and the biggest is almost three times as wide. As a painting for the living room it is most convincing at 98 x 104 or 130 x 130 cm.
Can I have another size or a frame?
Of course. If you need different proportions, we adapt the composition so that the head, the basket and the hanging leaf stay whole. Tell us the size you have in mind, and we will send you a price and a lead time.
You can have the painting rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed. Our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing before the painting sets off. In our 3D app you pick the moulding, and that is all the app is for; a view of the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
A plain dark wooden frame or a narrow moulding in matt gold suits the warm brown wall and the woven basket.
When does the painting arrive, and how does it travel?
The painter starts as soon as you confirm your order, and the painting is ready to ship within 15 to 45 working days. Before it goes, we send you a photograph of the finished work; if you would like a change, we make it before packing. Deliveries within Slovenia and to the rest of the EU carry no customs charges, and our returns policy covers every order.
It makes a lovely gift for a gardener, a cook or a friend who likes a full table. If you are unsure which size they would choose, give a wall art voucher and let them decide.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original kept?
In the Galleria Borghese in Rome, which lists it under inventory number 136.
Which fruits are in the basket?
Grapes in three colours, peaches, pears, apples, figs and a pomegranate, with vine leaves among them.
Is this a print or a real painting?
A real painting: a hand-painted copy, made with brush and oil paint on canvas.
How big is the original?
It is 70 cm high and 67 cm wide; our nearest size is 70 x 70 cm.
Who posed for the boy?
According to Wikipedia, Caravaggio’s friend, the Sicilian painter Mario Minniti.
Does it suit a kitchen or dining room?
Very well, since fruit belongs at the table.
Could the boy and his basket be painted in a size of my own?
Yes. Send us the width and height, and we will reply with a price and a completion date.
How long does it take?
Allow 15 to 45 working days; before it ships, we send you a photograph of the finished painting.
- Subject: a dark-haired boy in a white shirt slipped from one shoulder holds a wicker basket of grapes, peaches, pears, apples, figs and pomegranate.
- Original: c. 1593, oil on canvas, 70 x 67 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome.
- Ours: painted to order in oils on canvas, in eight sizes from 43 x 47 to 190 x 200 cm or to your own measurements.
- Worth knowing: the model was Caravaggio’s friend Mario Minniti; Cardinal Scipione Borghese seized the painting in 1607.
