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Saint Joseph and the Sleeping Christ Child

A work made of pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash, over black chalk, on ivory laid paper, laid down on beige wove card.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash, over black chalk, on ivory laid paper, laid down on beige wove card.

Date:

1670/75

Artist:

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Spanish, 1618-1682

About this artwork

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.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Bartolomé Estéban Murillo

Title

Saint Joseph and the Sleeping Christ Child

Place

Spain (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1670–1675

Medium

Pen and brown ink, with brush and brown wash, over black chalk, on ivory laid paper, laid down on beige wove card

Inscriptions

Inscribed recto, l.c, in pen and brown ink: "Bartolomé Murillo fecit"

Dimensions

Primary support: 16.4 × 13.6 cm (6 1/2 × 5 3/8 in.); Secondary support: 17.9 × 15.3 cm (7 1/16 × 6 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection

Reference Number

2013.993

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/148802/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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