# The Little Fruit Seller [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MURILLO, Bartolomé Esteban]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 149 x 113 cm ## Commentary A little girl with the face of a Madonna, a contented little boy examining the earnings she holds in her hand and a basket full of grapes which is, in itself, a still-life of the highest quality. Does this painting show us a life free from worry? The apparent poverty of the two figures, their unchild-like but necessary employment suggest a sense of hopelessness and misery. And yet these children seem to exude an air of rapt serenity and contented enjoyment of life. Herein lies Murillo's Christian message: because these children do not see their poverty as a burden, and because they do not regard their existence as joyless, they are beautiful and "dignified". It is thus a painting that could adorn the walls of any ruler's palace. ## Related artworks - [A Girl and her Duenna]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Angels' Kitchen]() - [Annunciation]() - [Baking of Flat Cakes]() - [Baptism of Christ]() - [Birth of the Virgin]() - [Boy with a Dog]() - [Boys Eating Grapes and Melon]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()