Saint Joseph and the Sleeping Christ Child

Art Institute of Chicago

Saint Joseph and the Sleeping Christ Child

Bartolomé Esteban MurilloLinkedCulture matchlcp-f653edc8f6d2

Date
1670/75
Medium
Pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash, over black chalk, on ivory laid paper, laid down on beige wove card
Culture
Spain
Department
Prints and Drawings
Institution
Art Institute of Chicago
Object ID
148802

From the Art Institute of Chicago record

A rare but poignant scene of fatherhood, this sheet depicts the rough and bearded Joseph looking helplessly down at the sleeping, recumbent form of the Christ child; his thoughts could be dwelling on how he will be unable to protect his son from the sacrifice he would have to make. Saint Joseph was especially popular in 17th-century Counter-Reformation Spain, as he was reputed to have helped heal Saint Teresa of Ávila’s paralysis. This tender picture is one of only about 70 known autograph drawings by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, founder of a drawing academy in Seville and one of the most esteemed artists of the Spanish Baroque.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line
Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
Provenance
Possibly Alleyne Fitzherbert, Baron St. Helens (1783–1839). Sold, Christie's, London, May 26, 1840, lot 102 (one of a pair). Private collection, Scotland; sold, Phillips, London, Dec. 3, 1997, lot 120, to Dorothy Braude Edinburg, Brookline, MA.; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2013.

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Object type
AAT300033973

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