EARLY ROME · GALLERIA BORGHESE
Boy with a Basket of Fruit
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THE INSPECTION ROOM
Fruit, light and a living presence
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Catalogue facts
The title
Boy with a Basket of Fruit is the title used for this entry in the source catalogue.
The date
c. 1593 means an approximate date, rather than a firmly documented year.
The record
The collection and status above identify this particular entry. They do not confirm that the painting is currently on public display.
A young painter looking closely
The painting belongs to Caravaggio’s early Roman career and his connection with Giuseppe Cesari’s workshop. The figure and fruit share the viewer’s attention: a human presence meets an intensely observed still life.
In 1607 it was confiscated from Cesari’s collection and subsequently given to Cardinal Scipione Borghese.
Popularity and surprising facts
A painting with international reach
The Borghese exhibition history lists appearances at London’s Royal Academy in 2001, Tokyo’s National Museum of Western Art in 2016 and the Getty in Los Angeles in 2017–18. These loans show its appeal well beyond Rome.
A star in its own exhibition
The Morgan Library & Museum organised Caravaggio’s “Boy with a Basket of Fruit” in Focus around a loan of this canvas from the Borghese. A single early painting became the centre of an exhibition.
Even famous paintings have disputed histories
Its attribution was questioned by some scholars in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries before its place in Caravaggio’s work was reaffirmed.
Sources and further reading
Galleria Borghese: collection record and exhibition history
The Morgan: Boy with a Basket of Fruit in Focus