Last week, I reached out to John Marciari, the curator overseeing the Morgan Library & Museum’s latest exhibition on Caravaggio’s ‘The Boy with a Basket of Fruit’ (circa 1593), from my living room. The city was bracing for a major winter snowstorm, and I found myself staring out the window at the familiar sight of adjacent apartments, typical of New York living.
Marciari transported me to a vastly different setting: the sultry, slow-moving atmosphere of late-summer Rome during the closing years of the 16th century. There, a young boy was tasked with holding a cumbersome basket of fruit longer than he wished, in a stifling, enclosed studio, while an emerging painter stood on the brink of fame.
In our discussion, Marciari shared insights into the colorful life and impact of this artist, the developing and unexpectedly modern gallery scene in Rome reminiscent of 1960s New York, and the experience of closely engaging with a Caravaggio piece on a daily basis. Quite enviable, indeed.
Even the revered Old Masters were once novices. The Morgan Library’s exhibit focusing on Caravaggio’s ‘Boy with a Basket of Fruit’ presents an image of the artist in his youth — driven, skilled, and perhaps a touch egotistical. ‘He hasn’t reached his artistic zenith yet,’ Marciari remarked. Nevertheless, this painting marks the beginning of a journey that would eventually see a provincial artist rise to become a towering figure in Western art history.
