The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 24, 2023

Christ and the Virgin in the House at Nazareth

c. 1640

Francisco de Zurbarán

(Spanish, 1598–1664)

Spain, 17th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 201 x 256 x 10 cm (79 1/8 x 100 13/16 x 3 15/16 in.); Unframed: 165 x 218.2 cm (64 15/16 x 85 7/8 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1960.117

Location

212 Baroque Painting and Sculpture

Fun Fact

Zurbarán, also a still-life painter, tilts the tabletop to emphasize the symbolic books and fruit.

Description

Stories of Christ’s childhood and adolescence became increasingly popular during the Counter-Reformation because they were easily understood by a broad public. Rather than taking a story from the Bible, Zurbarán appears to have invented this subject, in which Jesus pricks himself on a crown of thorns he is weaving, foretelling his later torment at the Crucifixion. Despite the grand scale and monumental figures, the work has remarkable intimacy and quietness, emphasizing such details as the Virgin’s tears.

Provenance
1960-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
1960
(François Heim, Paris, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
Ater 1821-1960
Various private collections in France
1821
(Probably Walterstorff sale, Laneuville, Paris, March 26-27, 1821, no. 65, sold to Laneuville)1 1
Until 1920
Probably the Count of Walterstorff [1755-1820]1 2

Provenance Footnotes

1 1The Zurbarán likely failed to sell and was effectively bought in by Jean-Louis Laneuville, a painter who also held auctions and compiled sale catalogues, including this one. This scenario is more likely than that which proposes that the painting was purchased by collector Ferdinand Laneuville, whose posthumous sale in 1866 at Hôtel Drouot included no works by Zurbarán.
2 1The Count of Walterstorff was the Minister of Denmark to the French court. The 1987 Zurbarán catalogue raisonné by Jeannine Baticle notes that “it is not unlikely” that the Cleveland picture is the one that appears in the Walterstorff sale due to the matching dimensions and description. However, the circumstances of his acquisition of the painting are unknown.
Citations
Lurie, Ann Tzeutchler. "Two Devotional Paintings by Sassoferrato and Carlo Dolci." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art LV (1968): 224-227. Reproduced: p. 227, fig. 10
Delenda, Odile, and Almudena Ros de Barbero. Francisco de Zurbarán 1598-1664. Madrid: Fundación Arte Hispánico, 2009.
Iacono, Margaret. Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: The Frick Collection, 2006
Baticle, Jeannine. Zurbarán. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987
Gállego, Julián, and José Gudiol. Zurbarán, 1598-1664. New York: Rizzoli, 1977.
Delenda, Odile, and Almudena Ros de Barbero. Francisco de Zurbarán 1598-1664. Madrid: Fundación Arte Hispánico, 2009
Iacono, Margaret. Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: The Frick Collection, 2006
Baticle, Jeannine. Zurbarán. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987.
M. Laneuville, M. Moreau, M. Lacoste, and Coquille. Tableaux du meilleur choix. 1821.
François Heim, letter to Henry S. Francis, July 5, 1960, in CMA curatorial file.
Iacono, Margaret. Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: The Frick Collection, 2006.

Baticle, Jeannine. Zurbarán. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987.
M. Laneuville, M. Moreau, M. Lacoste, and Coquille. Tableaux du meilleur choix. 1821.
François Heim, letter to Henry S. Francis, July 5, 1960, in CMA curatorial file.
Valdivieso, Enrique. Bodegones, floreros y trampantojos en la pintura barroca sevillana. Valencina de la Concepción (Sevilla) : Renacimiento, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 61-69, fig. 76, 83, and 92.
Guinard, Paul. Zurbarán et les peintres espagnols de la vie monastique. Paris, France: Éditions du Temps, 1960. Mentioned: p. 139; Reproduced: p. 217, fig. 29-30, fig. 67
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” August 12, 1960, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” November 2, 1960, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
Francis, Henry S. "Francisco de Zubaran: The House of Nazareth." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art XLIII (1961) 46-50. Reproduced: fig. 1
Vaughn, Malcom. "The Connoisseur in America: Cleveland's Zubaran." Connoisseur CXLVIII (1961): 76-77. Reproduced: p. 77
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Art News Press Release,” January 23, 1961, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
Jaffe. Michael. "Cleveland Museum of Art: The Figurative Arts of the West ca. 1400-1800." Apollo: The International Magazine for Collectors, LXXVIII (December, 1963): 467. Reproduced: p. 457, fig. 6
Exposición Zurbarán en el III centenario de su muerte. Madrid, Spain: Ministerio de Educación Nacional, Direcciŏn General de Bellas Artes, 1965. Reproduced: p. 20
Gomez-Moreno, Carmen. Spanish Painting: The Golden Century, New York, New York, 1965. Reproduced: p. 10, no. 39
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 130 archive.org
Causa, Raffaello. Zurbarán. Milano, Italy: Fratelli Fabbri Editori, 1966. Reproduced: no. 181
Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Reproduced: no. 152
Guinard, Paul. Les Peintrees espagnols. Paris, France: Le Livre de poche, 1967. Reproduced: fig. 122
Valiz, Zahir. "A Painter's Technique: Zubaran's The Holy House of Nazareth." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art LXVIII, no. 10 (October, 1981): 271-283. Reproduced: on cover
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 130 archive.org
Frati, Tiziana. L'opera completa di Zurbarán. Milano, Italy: Rizzoli, 1973. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 90-91, vol. 69
Brown, Jonathan. Francisco De Zurbarán. New York, New York: H.N. Abrams, 1974. Mentioned: p. 24; Reproduced: p. 80, pl. 11
Gállego, Julián, and José Gudiol. Zurbarán, 1598-1664. New York, New York: Rizzoli, 1977. Reproduced: p. 97, no. 247, figs. 257, 259
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 150 archive.org
Thuillier, Jacques, Antoine Le Nain, Louis Le Nain, and Mathieu Le Nain. Les frères Le Nain: [exposition organisée par la Réunion des musées nationaux], Grand Palais, 3 octobre 1978-8 janvier 1979 : [catalogue rédigé par Jacques Thuillier]. Paris, France: Ministère de la culture et de la communication, Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1978. Reproduced: p. 281
Trafalgar Galleries at the Royal Academy, II: [Catalogue]. London, United Kingdom: Trafalgar Galleries, 1979. Mentioned: p. 64; Reproduced: p. 67, fig. 1
Hindley, Geoffrey. World Art Treasures. New York, New York: Mayflower Books, 1979. Reproduced: p. 182
Fromme, Babbette Brandt. Curators' Choice: An Introduction to the Art Museums of the U.S. New York, New York: Crown Publishers, 1981. Reproduced: p. 115
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 514; Mentioned: p. 515-516
Veca, Alberto. Simposio: cerimonie e apparati : [mostra]. Bergamo, Italy: Galleria Lorenzelli, 1982. Mentioned: p. 157; Reproduced: p. 156,fig. 121
Baticle, Jeannine. Zurbarán. New York, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. Mentioned: p. 258-262; Reproduced: p. 259
Decoin, Didier, and Marie-Hélène About. L'enfant de Nazareth. Paris, France: Nouvelle cité, 1989. Reproduced: p. 122
Mühlberger, Richard. The Bible in Art: The New Testament. New York, New York: Portland House, 1990. Reproduced: p. 49
Berger, John. Keeping a Rendezvous. New York, New York: Pantheon Books, 1991. Reproduced: p. 170-171
Brown, Jonathan. Francisco De Zurbarán. New York, New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991. Reproduced: p. 65, pl. 9
Takahashi, Tatsushi. Barokku no miryoku. Kyōto, Japan: Dōhōsha Shuppan, 1991. Reproduced: p. 34
Boggs, Jean Sutherland, Brigitte Léal, and Marie-Laure Bernadac. Picasso and Things: The Still Lifes of Picasso. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1992. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 12-13, fig. 1; P. 62, fig. 11a
Boone, Danièle. L'Age d'or espagnol. Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Ides et Calendes, 1993. Reproduced: p. 139
Caturla, María Luisa, and Odile Delenda. Francisco de Zurbarán. Paris, France: Wildenstein Institute, 1994. Reproduced: p. 39
Grimm, Claus. Stilleben: die italienischen, spanischen und französischen Meister. Stuttgart, Germany: Belser, 1995. Reproduced: p. 35,46 detail: p. 234, no. 144
Trinidad de, Antonio. Zurbarán al Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. Barcelona, Spain: El Museu, 1998. Reproduced: p. 24
Navarrete Prieto, Benito. La pintura andaluza del siglo XVII y sus fuentes grabadas. Madrid, Spain: Fundación de Apoyo a la Historia del Arte Hispánico, 1998. Mentioned: p. 101-103: Reproduced: p. 248, fig. 518
Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (Mexico), Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (Mexico), Museo de San Carlos, and Saber Ver. Zurbarán. México: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1999. Reproduced: front cover, p. 2-3, 30-31
Minor, Vernon Hyde. Baroque & Rococo: Art & Culture. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999. Reproduced: p. 365, no. 10.6
Kemp, Martin. The Oxford History of Western Art. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Reproduced:. p. 234, no. 332
Heitz, Françoise, and Annick Johnson. Les figures du Christ dans l'art, l'histoire et la littérature: colloque Université d'Artois, 3 et 4 mars 2000. Paris, France: L'Harmattan, 2001. Reproduced: p. 192-193, pl. 5
Harris, Ann Sutherland. Seventeenth-Century Art & Architecture. London, United Kingdom: Laurence King, 2005. Reproduced: p. 213, fig. 3.19
Klibansky, Raymond, and Jean Clair. Mélancolie, génie et folie en occident: en hommage à Raymond Klibansky, 1905-2005 : Galeries nationales du grand palais, Paris, 10 octobre 2005-16 janvier 2006 ; Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 17 février-7 mai 2006. Paris, France: Gallimard, 2005. Reproduced: p. 250, no. 129
Iacono, Margaret. Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. New York, New York: The Frick Collection, 2006. Reproduced: p. 250, no. 129
Black, Charlene Villaseñor. Creating the Cult of St. Joseph: Art and Gender in the Spanish Empire. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2006. Reproduced: p, 105, fig. 65
Quignard, Pascal. La nuit sexuelle. Paris, France: Flammarion, 2007. Reproduced: p. 246
30,000 Years of Art: The Story of Human Creativity Across Time and Space. London, United Kingdom: Phaidon, 2007. Reproduced: p. 777
Arikha, Avigdor. El Museo del Prado y el arte contemporáneo: la influencia de los grandes maestros del pasado en el arte de vanguardia. Madrid, Spain: Fundación Amigos del Museo del Prado, 2007. Reproduced: fig. IX
Quignard, Pascal. La nuit sexuelle. Paris, France: Flammarion, 2007. Mentioned: p. 183-87; Reproduced: p. 246
"Old Masters Visit Beachwood", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 47 no. 03, March 2007 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 3 archive.org
Alcolea, Santiago, and Francisco de Zurbarán. Zurbarán. Barcelona, Spain: Polígrafa, 2008. Reproduced: p. 66, fig. 52
Senzoku, Nobuyuki. Sugu wakaru seiyō kaiga yomitoki 66 no kīwādo. Tōkyō, Japan: Tōkyō Bijutsu, 2008. Reproduced: p. 123
Delenda, Odile, Francisco de Zurbarán, and Almudena Ros de Barbero. Francisco de Zurbarán, 1598-1664: catálogo razonado y crítico. Madrid, Spain: Fundación Arte Hispánico, 2009. Reproduced: p. 546-548, pl. 14-15
García Sanz, Ana. El Niño Jesús en el Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales de Madrid. Madrid, Spain: Patrimonio Nacional, 2010. Reproduced: p. 312, fig. 225
Nooteboom, Cees. Zurbarán: Selected Paintings 1625-1664. München, Germany: Schirmer/Mosel, 2011. Reproduced: p. 13,, 14; Mentioned: p. 102-103
Tapié, Alain, and Régis Cotentin. Portraits de la pensée. Lille, France: Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, 2011. Mentioned: p. 30-31, 34-35; Reproduced: p. 16
Franklin, David. Director's Choice: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 36-37
Treasures of the Cleveland Museum of Art. London, United Kingdom: Scala Books, 2012. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 194-195
La couronne d'épines: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. Paris: Association Maurice du Sully, 2014. Reproduced: p. 11
Quignard, Pascal, and Chris Turner, trans.. The Sexual Night. Calcutta: Seagull Books, 2014. Reproduced: p. 146
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 185
Wismer, Beat, Odile Delenda and María del Mar Borobia Guerrero. Zurbarán. Dusseldorf; Munchen: Museum Kunstpalais, 2015. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 206-207, fig. 70
Giraudo, Lucien. 105 oeuvres décisives de la peinture occidentale montrées par Michel Butor. Paris Flammarion, 2015. Reproduced: p. 104; Mentioned p. 105
Roglán, Mark A. Spanish Art in America. [Madrid, Spain]: Ediciones El Viso 2016. Reproduced: p.79
Cleveland Museum of Art. Masterworks on Loan: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Cleveland Museum of Art: April through June 2016. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. p. 27-28
Camplin, Jamie,and Maria Ranauro. The Art of Reading: An Illustrated History of Books in Paint. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Publications, 2018. Reproduced 7 Mentioned: p. 111
Svenningsen, Jesper. Samlingssteder: udenlandsk billedkunst i danske samlermiljøer 1690-1840. [Aarhus] : Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2023. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 191-193, fig. 70
Exhibition history

Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).

Genie et folie en Occident: Une histoire de la mélancolie. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 75008 Paris, France (September 22, 2005-January 2, 2006); Neue Nationalgalerie (February 17-May 7, 2006).

Masterpieces of European Painting from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Frick Collection, New York, NY (organizer) (November 8, 2006-January 28, 2007).

Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Beachwood, OH (March 29-July 8, 2007).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1960.117