Nude Child Seated
1520/30
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Sheet, trimmed within platemark: 7.8 × 7.8 cm (3 1/8 × 3 1/8 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
4429
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Here Gourmont placed a nude child in front of his characteristic perspectival architecture, leaving only a few clues about his identity. The composition resembles both contemporary images of the Christ Child as well as the John the Baptist roundel on view nearby (1938.1502). Yet the oil lamp behind the figure and the statue in ancient garb emphasize the broken bricks and weeds growing throughout this collapsed structure. These details suggest that the roundel is a meditation on the ruins of Anti...