A Young Man with a Basket of Fruit (Personification of 'Summer')
About this artwork
The basket of seasonal fruit and vegetables and the ears of barley tucked into his turban help identify this young man with Summer (some reference to the grape harvest would have been included for Autumn). His features and colouring suggest that Murillo used a real model for this painting but his athletic torso and the swirl of drapery over his shoulder link him with ideal figures from classical antiquity. Series of paintings representing the seasons and the senses were popular in the seventeenth century, but this is an unusual subject for Murillo. He may have painted it for his patron Justino de Neve.
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title:A Young Man with a Basket of Fruit (Personification of 'Summer')
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accession number:NG 2706
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artist:
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gallery:
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object type:
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materials:Oil on canvas
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date created:About 1660-65
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measurements:99.00 x 79.00 cm (framed: 142.50 x 121.50 cm)
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credit line:Purchased by Private Treaty with the aid of the Art Fund 1999
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photographer:Antonia Reeve
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Murillo became the most popular painter in his native Seville. His gentle, colourful interpretation of religious subjects, especially in large altarpieces and devotional images of the Virgin Mary, had widespread appeal. He also produced some fine portraits and scenes of everyday life which often featured children. In 1660 he helped…
