Sleeping Christ Child with Mary and Joseph
Artist
Bartolomeo Schedoni
(Italian, 1578-1615)
Dateca. 1610-15
CultureItalian
MediumOil on wood
ClassificationPaintings
ProvenanceSir John Charles Robinson (1824–1913), London; purchased in 1875 for £100 by Sir Francis Cook (1817–1901), 1st Baronet, Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey; by inheritance to his son, Sir Frederick Lucas Cook (1844– 1920), 2nd Baronet, Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey; by inheritance to his son, Sir Herbert Frederick Cook (1868–1939), 3rd Baronet, Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey; by inheritance to his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook (1907–1978), 4th Baronet, Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey; (by 1952, with Frederick Mont, New York); sold to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, 1954.
Credit LineMuseum purchase, 1954
Object numberSN674
Schedoni worked mainly in Parma, in the north of Italy, where the legacy of Parmigianino, an earlier Mannerist painter, influenced his style. Indeed, the elongated body type of Christ seen here, with somewhat distended belly, is seen in Parmigianino’s work. Depictions of the sleeping Christ Child are meant to evoke thoughts of his later death on the cross, and this work would have encouraged meditation on the Passion. The small horizontal format of such a scene is rare, and indicates it was likely intended for private devotion or for a collector’s gallery.
On View
On viewLocation
- Museum of Art, Gallery 06, Wall North
Collections
Frame: 22 × 33 1/16 in. (55.9 × 84 cm)
18th Century
