Madonna Nursing the Christ Child
Medium
pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash over red and black chalk, with traces of white; framing lines in pen and brown ink
Dimensions
sheet: 21.4 × 15.4 cm · secondary support: 24.1 × 18.5 cm
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection
Accession Number
1968.66
Tags
About this artwork
One of the finest of the rare drawings by Murillo, this sheet is a study for Virgin and Child, commissioned for the family chapel of the Marques de Santiago in Madrid and now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Prized today for their dynamism, Murillo’s drawings served the practical purpose of working out the positions of the figures. Here, the artist suggested the tender bond between mother and child with the poignant connection of their gazes. His animated line and zigzag hatching cre...