Boy with a Basket of Fruit Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610)

Description of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s painting A Young Man with a Basket of Fruit

Michelangelo Caravaggio was an artist with Italian roots who was educated in Milan. His famous painting, A Young Man with a Basket of Fruit, is his earliest work.

He painted it in 1593. It is interesting that Caravaggio liked to depict both everyday life of people and biblical events. "Young man with a basket of fruit" is a depiction of ordinary life.

On a canvas measuring 70 by 67 centimeters, the artist depicted a portrait of a young man holding a basket of ripe, fresh fruit. The boy has dark, thick, curly hair. The young man’s pose is rather loose, he is hunched over a bit, his shoulder bare. He looks at us with pride. His mouth is slightly open.

The artist spent a lot of time on the fruit basket. Michelangelo Caravaggio placed bunches of grapes, red-green apples, ripe figs, peaches and other fruits in the wicker brown basket.

The brightest fruits are apples, and the rest of the fruits the artist depicted in neutral tones so that everything looks harmonious. Had Caravaggio taken a lot of bright colors, our attention would have gone only to the fruit, then we would have forgotten about the main character.

There is no reliable information as to who this young man was. Many believe that Caravaggio simply asked the first person he met to pose. In general, Michelangelo Caravaggio was famous for depicting the most ordinary people in his paintings.

The artist paid a lot of attention to color and light. In this picture, it is immediately clear that the light falls from the left side. After all, the brightest spots are the left cheek and shoulder of the young man.

On the right side of the painting, on the contrary, the shadows fall. The background of the painting is the most common gray wall. The artist purposely depicted the guy in an ordinary room, not in nature. So that the fruit doesn’t blend in with the natural environment.