The light of the image centers upon the boy’s face, his black
hair with playful curls matching the shadows just outside the limits of the
beam of light. His curls are tight with only little holes to let the light through
and continue down to stretch around the gentle curve of his ear. His face is calm
and engrossed with his eyes seeming to stare at a point in the center of my
chest. The shadows playing on his face turn one of his eyes slightly morose. The
slight tilt of his head still provides a clear path down his strong neck with a
jutting Adam's apple. From its base, his breast bones expand out towards a highly
muscles shoulder with its skin stretched tight by the labor of the shoulder.
His physical beauty is only emphasized by the white linen shirt he wears that
has fallen loosely halfway down his arm. This shirt is wrinkly and folded all
the way down to his wrist where his skin emerges once again in the form of a
strong hand grasping a basket of fruit. The basket is full of glistening ripe
fruit that looks simultaneously fake and refreshing. These fruits are piled so
high they seem to be precariously balanced against the boy’s chest. They vary in
size and shape but to seem to all fit together perfectly comprising a mass in
which you can see every fruit but that also seems to be one object. The leaves
from these fruits extend outward providing splashes of light and color in the
otherwise dark shadows that fill the painting.
Caravaggio: Boy With a Basket of Fruit
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