Two Boys Eating Fruit
By Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1650)
Baroque, Spanish School
Location: Alte Pinakothek, Munich
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 145 x 106 cm
Technical Analysis
Murillo’s mastery of drawing is evident in the impressive realism of details. The earthy color palette, contrasted by the vibrant melon and shirt, and the dark, subtly worked background, draws attention to the figures. The use of natural light and chiaroscuro enhances the expressive gestures, eyes, and mouths of the children, creating a sense of naturalism.
The two boys are situated in a dimly lit room, which emphasizes the foreground and creates depth. One boy sits with a slice of melon, reaching for a bunch of grapes. He watches his companion, who sits on a stool, mouth full of melon, another piece resting on his legs. Their worn and torn clothing suggests poverty. A basket overflowing with grapes and remnants of melon sits in the lower left corner.
The barefoot children and their depiction reflect Murillo’s personal style, developed over 30 years. His work is characterized by themes of kindness, often featuring children and the Virgin Mary. His later works show a greater focus on the treatment of light and chiaroscuro, influenced by contemporary artists.
The Work in the Context of Art History
This realistic Baroque painting depicts a scene from everyday life.
Interpretation
The Role of the Sevillian Aristocracy: Seville’s aristocracy, along with ecclesiastical communities and Dutch trading colonies, created a significant art market in Spain, rivaled only by the royal court in Madrid.
Historical and Cultural Context: In the 17th century, Seville was a major commercial hub due to trade with Spain’s overseas colonies. However, the Spanish economy declined in the early decades of the century, exacerbated by the plague of 1649 and food shortages. More than half of Seville’s population perished, making child poverty a pressing issue, a theme that resonated with Murillo.
Influences: Murillo’s early work was influenced by Caravaggio and his followers. While he met Velázquez in Seville, the influence was less direct, stemming more from access to royal works. Van Dyck’s influence is seen in the depiction of the Virgin Mary, whose figures and faces acquired a certain bourgeois placidity. Later, Murillo’s attention to light echoes Rembrandt.
Content and Meaning: The painting depicts a recurring theme in Murillo’s work: two or three children portrayed realistically. Despite their poverty and tattered clothing, they appear happy and carefree.
As mentioned, Spain experienced a crisis that, along with other factors, halved the population, leaving the lower classes in extreme poverty.
Significance
This genre painting, featuring real people, local customs, and a still life, is an allegory of the senses, a common theme in Baroque painting but less so in Spanish art, which typically favored religious subjects. The painting’s freshness captures an almost instantaneous moment.
- It emphasizes the naturalness of the children’s attitudes, expressing sympathy and kindness towards the poor and beggars, figures often depicted in picaresque literature.
- This intimate scene contrasts with the harsh realities of the time, marked by epidemics and widespread death.
- Likely commissioned by wealthy Northern European clients, the painting offers a moral reading, presenting a vision of Seville filled with orphans and abandoned children, albeit seemingly well-fed and self-reliant.
Function
- A personal vision of childhood.
- Allegorical rather than moral or socially protesting.
- An escapist perspective, denying the world’s crisis through idealization: the children are street urchins, dirty but cheerful.
Murillo’s paintings of disadvantaged children reflect a society concerned for its most vulnerable members.