Art Institute of Chicago
Christ Receiving the Children
Sébastien Bourdon (French, 1616–1671)LinkedCulture matchlcp-bdd7a6f034f7
- Date
- c. 1655
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Culture
- France
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 9672
From the Art Institute of Chicago record
In this illustration of an episode from the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament, Jesus (reclining at center) admonishes his disciples not to prevent little children from approaching him. Sébastien Bourdon’s figures wear draperies in the antique fashion, and the setting evokes both ancient Rome and the Christian Holy Land. One of the most versatile and successful 17th-century French painters, Bourdon emulated the rigorous classical style of Nicolas Poussin. Bourdon knew Poussin’s work (such as the painting on view in this gallery) from his early years in Rome. Following Poussin’s compositional principles, Bourdon organized this scene as a series of parallel, stage-like registers, resulting in a calm, geometric order.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Gift of Mrs. Eugene A. Davidson
- Provenance
- Probably Chiquet de Champ-Renard, Paris; sold Joullain fils, Paris, March 14 and following, 1768, suppl. 3, to Joullain fils, Paris, for 815 livres [the measurements given, which may refer to the sight size, are equal to 98.7 x 129.8 cm; price and buyer are listed in an annotated sale catalogue in the R.K.D., The Hague]. Probably John Joshua Proby, first earl of Carysfort (died 1828), Elton, Huntingdonshire, and London; sold Christie’s, London, June 14, 1828, no. 38, to Gilmor for 35 gns. 14 s [according to annotated sale catelogue, Christie's London]. Robert Frank, Bristol, by 1938 [ according to Bristol 1938]. Seligmann, New York, 1947 [according to Fowle 1970, p. 113]. Robert D. Brewster, New York [letter of December 11, 1981 from Katherine Moore, Knoedler’s, to Susan Wise in curatorial file]. Stuart Preston, New York, by 1956 [according to New Haven 1956, no. 7]; consigned by Preston to Knoedler, New York, 1958-–59 [according to the letter cited above]; purchased from Knoedler for the Art Institute by Mrs. Eugene A. Davidson (the former Mrs. Suzette Morton Zurcher), 1959; intermittently on loan to Mrs. Davidson, 1959–73.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300033618
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