Boy with a Basket of Fruit

Painted by Caravaggio around 1593, soon after his arrival in Rome, 'Boy with a Basket of Fruit' shows a white-shouldered youth cradling a wicker basket overflowing with grapes, peaches, figs, apples, and autumn leaves. The fruit is observed with extraordinary precision — blemishes, worm-holes, and all — making the picture one of the prototypes of Western still life. The damp parted lips and exposed shoulder, together with the boy's languid gaze, infuse the scene with a quiet homoerotic charge, announcing the fusion of Eros and uncompromising naturalism that would define Caravaggio's mature art.

Exhibition Venue

Galleria Borghese

Roma Capitale, Italy