Boy with a Basket of Fruit
c. 1593 · Oil on canvas · Galleria Borghese, Rome
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About this work
- Artist
- Caravaggio (1571–1610)
- Year
- c. 1593
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 70 × 67 cm
- Collection
- Galleria Borghese, Rome
- Movement
- Baroque
A dark-haired boy of about sixteen, his shirt slipping from one shoulder, holds up a wicker basket heaped with grapes, peaches, figs, apples and a pomegranate, the leaves already spotted and curling. Caravaggio painted it around 1593, soon after arriving in Rome, probably in the workshop of the Cavalier d'Arpino, where he was employed painting fruit and flowers; the model is thought to be his friend Mario Minniti. The fruit is observed with a botanist's exactness, each blemish recorded, and the picture has been read both as a straightforward offering and as an allegory of the senses and of transience. It was seized from d'Arpino's studio by Pope Paul V in 1607 and passed to his nephew Cardinal Scipione Borghese, and it has hung in the Galleria Borghese in Rome ever since.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A bare-shouldered boy offering a basket of grapes, peaches and figs in warm browns and a white shirt, for a kitchen, dining room or hallway at 24×36 in natural wood. Olive, cream or terracotta walls suit the fruit; pair it with Young Sick Bacchus.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Baroque painting
- Era
- 16th century (c. 1593)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- intimate
- Rooms
- kitchen, dining room, hallway or entryway, living room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; natural wood lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Boy with a Basket of Fruit in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Boy with a Basket of Fruit painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
