Madonna Nursing the Christ Child
Bartolomé Esteban Murilloc. 1670–72
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
One of the finest of the rare drawings by Murillo, this sheet is a study for <em>Virgin and Child</em>, commissioned for the family chapel of the Marques de Santiago in Madrid and now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Prized today for their dynamism, Murillo’s drawings served the practical purpose of working out the positions of the figures. Here, the artist suggested the tender bond between mother and child with the poignant connection of their gazes. His animated line and zigzag hatching create the feeling of incessant motion while the addition of ink wash creates deep shadows across the forms.
- Title: Madonna Nursing the Christ Child
- Creator: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Spanish, 1617–1682)
- Date Created: c. 1670–72
- Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 21.4 x 15.4 cm (8 7/16 x 6 1/16 in.); Secondary Support: 24.1 x 18.5 cm (9 1/2 x 7 5/16 in.)
- Provenance: with Jacques de Mons, Paris (?), with Frederick Mont, Inc., New York, Mr. and Mrs. Charles and Leona Prasse, Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
- Type: Drawing
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1968.66
- Medium: pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash over red and black chalk, with traces of white; framing lines in pen and brown ink
- Inscriptions: in brown ink, upper right: Morillo
- Fun Fact: The inscription <em>Morillo</em> on this drawing is not the artist's signature but rather a notation likely made by a 17th-century owner of the drawing.
- Department: Drawings
- Culture: Spain, 17th century
- Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection
- Collection: DR - Spanish
- Accession Number: 1968.66
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