Boy with Apple

2012 painting by Michael Taylor

Boy with Apple

Artist| Michael Taylor
Year| 2012
Medium| Oil on canvas
Subject| Ed Munro

Boy with Apple is a 2012 painting by British artist Michael Taylor, and a fictional painting of the same name depicted in the 2014 Wes Anderson film The Grand Budapest Hotel, for which the work was commissioned as a prop. The portrait depicts a boy clad in Renaissance-style garb holding a green apple while pinching the stem.[1] An inscription identifies the boy as the "only son of the eleventh duke" (unicus filius ducati undecimi) and gives the date 1627.[2] Ed Munro, a dancer from London, was the model for the portrait.[3]

The film describes Boy with Apple as a priceless Renaissance work inherited by Ralph Fiennes' character of Gustave H. as part of the inciting incident.

## Painting

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British artist Michael Taylor painted Boy with Apple in 2012 for use in the then-upcoming film The Grand Budapest Hotel. Taylor was contacted by director Wes Anderson, who requested a faux Renaissance-era portrait that would evoke imagery from European art history.[4] Anderson actively added his own input to the work; specifically, he asked that the painting be made along the lines of works by Hans Holbein the Younger and Elder, Bronzino, Lucas Cranach the Elder, and a number of Flemish and Dutch painters.[5][6]

Due to the painting's role as a film prop, which required that Boy with Apple be carryable under an actor's arm, Taylor was forced to work on a smaller canvas than he was used to.[6] Anderson provided a folder of references including "16th century mannerist portraits by Bronzino, some German Northern Renaissance works, photos of castles, cakes, postcards of hotels and so forth". Further instructions from Anderson recommended distinct late-medieval elements alongside a subtle note of visual humor, and Taylor spent three months working on the painting with sitter Ed Munro, having rented space at Hanford School during summer vacation. Munro's clothing was constructed from costumes provided by the institution and Taylor spent much of his time experimenting with the painting's subjects to achieve the desired emotional tone, with discarded elements including a castle setting, a visible curtain rail, and a "rather nice pewter plate with a bird skull". The boy's pinching motion was taken from Gabrielle d'Estrées et une de ses sœurs, a personal fascination of Taylor's. Taylor concurred with the desire for a Northern character for the work in place of the more Southerly Italian style associated with the period, taking the painting "away from Bronzino and more towards Holbein or Cranach" over the course of development.[7]

Upon the release of The Grand Budapest Hotel, the painting was well received.[1][6] Art critic Jonathan Jones of The Guardian wrote a full-length analysis of the portrait, stating "Boy with Apple really is priceless, as an art history in-joke."[1] The portrait is currently in the possession of Wes Anderson; this was confirmed in 2021 by an inquiry to Anderson, who stated "I have the picture and always will." A single authentic study for the work remains in Taylor's possession, with both works including a forged "J.V.H." signature.[7]

## Fictional history

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Grand Budapest Hotel, set in 1932 in the fictional Eastern European country of Zubrowka, attributes Boy with Apple to the fictional "Johannes Van Hoytl the Younger", who is described as being of the "Czech mannerist, Habsburg high Renaissance, Budapest neo-humanist" style.[1] The painting is dated to 1627, with an infocard in the film describing Van Hoytl as a solitary, financially unsuccessful, and "extremely unprolific" painter who gained only posthumous appreciation as the creator of "perhaps a dozen" of the period's best portraits, Boy with Apple being the most valuable among them.

The painting is introduced as the prize possession of elderly noblewoman Madame D., who bequeaths it to hotel concierge Gustave shortly before her death, causing a row between Gustave and her son Dmitri. Gustave takes the painting for himself and initially resolves to keep it, but then decides to sell it on the black market. Zero inherits both the painting and the titular hotel after Gustave's untimely death. The work can be seen hanging in the concierge's cubicle many decades later.

## References

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1. ^ a b c d Jones, Jonathan (7 March 2014). "Is The Grand Budapest Hotel's 'Boy with Apple' artwork plausible?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
2. ^ Clayton, Julia (2024). The Author as Artist: Invented Art and Authenticity in Fiction (PDF) (PhD thesis). Edge Hill University. p. 87. Retrieved 24 March 2025.
3. ^ "Michael Taylor's painting Boy with Apple to play a central role in Wes Anderson's new film, The Grand Budapest Hotel". Waterhouse & Dodd. 2 March 2014. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
4. ^ Eakin, Marah (3 April 2014). "Read This: Here's the story behind The Grand Budapest Hotel's 'Boy With Apple'". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
5. ^ Russeth, Andrew (27 February 2014). "Wes Anderson on the Painting at the Center of His 'Grand Budapest Hotel'". Observer. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
6. ^ a b c Martin, Zelly (13 June 2014). "We Talked to the Painter Who Made 'Boy with Apple' for Wes Anderson's 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'". Vice. Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
7. ^ a b Woodward, Adam (22 February 2021). "The story behind The Grand Budapest Hotel's 'Boy with Apple' painting". Little White Lies. Retrieved 21 April 2024.