Sleeping Christ Child with Mary and Joseph
Artist
Bartolomeo Schedoni
(Italian, 1578-1615)
Dateca. 1610-15
MediumOil on wood
DimensionsImage: 10 1/4 x 22 1/4 in. (26 x 56.5 cm)
Frame: 22 × 33 1/16 in. (55.9 × 84 cm)
Frame: 22 × 33 1/16 in. (55.9 × 84 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
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
18th Century
