The Virgin holding the sleeping infant Christ on her lap, after Reni
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 17 1/2 × 19 7/8 in. (44.4 × 50.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951
Accession Number
51.501.4570
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *The Virgin holding the sleeping infant Christ on her lap, after Reni*, a tender 18th-century engraving that captures the timeless Madonna and Child motif. This print reproduces a composition by the renowned Italian Baroque master Guido Reni (1575–1642), celebrated for his graceful, classical figures and emotive religious scenes. Reni's elegant style, blending Renaissance harmony with dramatic Baroque light and softness, made such devotional images immensely popular across Europe, evoking maternal devotion and divine serenity. Engraved by François-Alexandre Chasteau around 1741–84, the...
About the Artist
Anonymous|Guido Reni|François-Alexander Chasteau
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...