Boy with a Basket of Fruit, c.1593/94 Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610)

We create our paintings with museum quality and covering the highest academic standards. Once we get your order, it will be entirely hand-painted with oil on canvas. All the materials we use are the highest level, being totally artist graded painting materials and linen canvas.

We will add 1.6" (4 cm) additional blank canvas all over the painting for stretching.

High quality and detailing in every inch are time consuming. The reproduction of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio also needs time to dry in order to be completely ready for shipping, as this is crucial to not be damaged during transportation.
Based on the size, level of detail and complexity we need 8-9 weeks to complete the process.

In case the delivery date needs to be extended in time, or we are overloaded with requests, there will be an email sent to you sharing the new timelines of production and delivery.

TOPofART wants to remind you to keep patient, in order to get you the highest quality, being our mission to fulfill your expectations.

We not stretch and frame our oil paintings due to several reasons:
Painting reproduction is a high quality expensive product, which we cannot risk to damage by sending it being stretched.
Also, there are postal restrictions, regarding the size of the shipment.
Additionally, due to the dimensions of the stretched canvas, the shipment price may exceed the price of the product itself.

You can stretch and frame your painting in your local frame-shop.

Once the painting Boy with a Basket of Fruit is ready and dry, it will be shipped to your delivery address. The canvas will be rolled-up in a secure postal tube.

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The paintings we create are only of museum quality. Our academy graduated artists will never allow a compromise in the quality and detail of the ordered painting. TOPofART do not work, and will never allow ourselves to work with low quality studios from the Far East. We are based in Europe, and quality is our highest priority.

Boy with a Basket of Fruit presents a singular figure of a young man gently cradling an abundant collection of fruits. He turns his head slightly, allowing the viewer to take in the subtle blush across his cheek and the shadows that mark his throat. The folds of his white garment slip from his shoulder, creating a sense of intimate realism, as though this moment is captured by chance. The basket itself overflows with peaches, grapes, apples, and leaves, each rendered with an almost scientific precision. Despite the apparent simplicity, there is a sustained tension between the youth’s poised expression and the palpable weight of the basket he supports.

The color palette is controlled yet atmospheric. The artist’s muted background, possibly a wall within a modest interior, throws the rich hues of the fruit into relief. Soft browns and grays form a gentle gradient behind the figure, ensuring that the highlights on the boy’s flesh and the vivid surfaces of the fruit emerge with clarity. Subtle touches of vermilion on apples or the deeper purples of the grapes are especially noticeable and add depth to an otherwise warm yet subdued setting. The overall effect is balanced; the brightness of each piece of fruit is carefully calibrated to support, rather than eclipse, the primary subject.

The technique demonstrates a keen attention to naturalistic detail, which is evident in the textures and blemishes found on the produce. Brushstrokes are discreet, melding into one another so that surfaces appear smooth, but not overly polished. Light falls from the left, accentuating the boy’s left cheek and shoulder, while casting a more pronounced shadow on his right side. This interplay of illumination and darkness gives a sense of immediacy, as if the viewer is standing mere paces away.

Compositionally, the painting centers on the symbiotic relationship between the sitter and his basket. The gently sloping line of the youth’s shoulder leads the eye to the basket, while the tilt of his head draws focus back to his face. This circular movement encourages the viewer to linger, noticing the irregularities on the leaves and the subtle shifts in hue on the fruit. Such compositional decisions evoke the broader naturalism that the artist brought to Rome, moving away from strictly idealized forms.

Historically, this work belongs to the artist’s early Roman period, a time when his talents as a painter of still lifes attracted critical acclaim among patrons. Though known primarily for his dramatic religious scenes, the piece underscores a fundamental commitment to direct observation. As a painter of fruit and figure alike, he navigated the delicate boundaries between aesthetic appeal and stark reality, resulting in an image that continues to provoke both curiosity and admiration for its rigorous depiction of the everyday.