Original artwork description:

In an antique shop I bought a cheap, and very dark, copy of this painting, not realizing at first that it was Caravaggio’s “Fruit in a Basket”. This was a textured print made in Mexico. I was able to download a very good print of the painting from , and from that was able to copy, with some accuracy, the Caravaggio, which I did as a learning exercise. I did make a few changes, most notably, his has gold leaf for the background, whereas my gold background was made by mixing transparent yellow and titanium white. Secondly, I left off the wormholes and insect bites that he’s included on the apple and perhaps here and there on other pieces of fruit, and then I don’t have quite as much detail in the basket weaving itself. My mark “GJ” is on the lower right, and full signature and date on the back. The overall image is 20x16 inches (50.8x40.6 cm), framed in a 5-inch wide gold plein air frame that brings the outside framed dimensions to 30x26 (76x66 cm). Coated with artist-grade varnish to protect from dust and abrasion, this work ships with a digitally-registered Certificate of Authenticity.

Materials used:

oil paint, linen, wood, varnish

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