The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2023

Madonna Nursing the Christ Child

c. 1670–72

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

(Spanish, 1617–1682)

Spain, 17th century

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

Support: Cream(3) laid paper

Sheet: 21.4 x 15.4 cm (8 7/16 x 6 1/16 in.); Secondary Support: 24.1 x 18.5 cm (9 1/2 x 7 5/16 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection 1968.66

Catalogue raisonné: Brown 2012.75

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The inscription <em>Morillo</em> on this drawing is not the artist's signature but rather a notation likely made by a 17th-century owner of the drawing.

Description

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 create the feeling of incessant motion while the addition of ink wash creates deep shadows across the forms.

Inscriptions

Inscription

in brown ink, upper right: Morillo

Provenance
?-?
with Jacques de Mons, Paris (?)
?-?
with Frederick Mont, Inc., New York
?-1968
Mr. and Mrs. Charles and Leona Prasse, Cleveland
1968-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Citations
Brown, Jonathan. Murillo & His Drawings. Princeton, N.J.: Art Museum, Princeton University, 1976. p. 31, 162, 164, cat. 79, p. 165-66, p. 168
"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, April-June, 1968," Art Quarterly XXXI (Winter 1968). pp. 446, 449
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
McKim-Smith, Gridley. Spanish Baroque Drawings in North American Collections: [Exhibition] October 19-November 24, 1974. [Lawrence?]: University of Kansas Museum of Art, 1974. cat. 26, p. 49-50; reproduced on cover
Angulo Iñiguez, Diego, "Algunos dibujos de Murillo," Instituto Diego Velázquez Archivo Español de Arte XLVII: 186 (Apr-Jun 1974): pp. 97-108. p. 105
Feinblatt, Ebria. Old Master Drawings from American Collections: Exhibition, April 29-June 13, 1976, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976. p. 207, cat. 226, p. 212
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
Nuño, Juan Antonio. L'opera completa di Murillo. Milano: Rizzoli, 1978. p. 105, under cat. 217
Johnson, Mark M. Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980. p. 45, 47-48
Angulo Iñiguez, Diego. Murillo. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1981, Vol. II. II, p. 160 under cat. 164
Museo del Prado, and Royal Academy of Arts (Great Britain). Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1617-1682. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1982. p. 61; cat. D19, p. 217
Richards, Louise S. "A Tribute to Leona Prasse," Drawing VII:1 (May-June 1985): 8-9. pp. 8-9
Marqués, Manuela Mena in Turner, J. S. The Dictionary of Art. New York: Grove, 1996: Vol. 22. p. 347
Brown, Jonathan. Painting in Spain: 1500-1700. 1998. p. 231
DeGrazia, Diane and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned: p. 9, pp. 82-83, p. 287; Reproduced: p. 83
Stratton-Pruitt, Suzanne L. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682): Paintings from American Collections. New York: H.N. Abrams, in association with the Kimbell Art Museum, 2002. p. 164, fig. 2
Ressort, Claudie, "Murillo dessiateur. Un style élégant et libre," Dossier de l'art 115 (2005): pp. 56-64. p. 64
Brown, Jonathan. Murillo: Virtuoso Draftsman. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. cat. 75, pp. 194-195
Brown, Jonathan, "Circle of Love," ARTnews 111:10 (Nov. 2012): pp. 90-91. pp. 90-91
Marques, Manuela Mena. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682): dibujos : catálogo razonado. Santander: Fundación Botín, 2015. Mentioned: p. 180, 394-397, 416; Reproduced: p. 59, 395
Pareja López, Enrique. Murillo Fecit. Sevilla: Ediciones Tartessos, 2016. Reproduced: p. 379, 389
Navarrete Prieto, Benito. Murillo y las metáforas de la imagen. Madrid: Ediciones Catedra, 2017. Mentioned: p. 141; Reproduced: p. 141, no. 90
Navarrete Prieto, Benito, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Benito Navarrete Prieto, Jenny Dodman, and Véronique Gerard Powell. Murillo: Persuasion and Aura. 2021, 125. Mentioned: p. 121; Reproduced: p. 125, fig. 58.
Exhibition history

Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968).

Year in Review: 1968. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29-March 9, 1969).

Spanish Baroque Drawings in North American Collections. Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS (organizer) (October 19-December 1, 1974).

Old Master Drawings from American Collections. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (April 29-June 13, 1976).

Murillo and His Drawings. Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ (organizer) (December 12, 1976-January 30, 1977).

Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980).

When Angels Bent Near the Earth to Touch Their Harps of Gold: The Christmas Story. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 1, 1981-January 17, 1982).

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1617-1682. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain (organizer) (October 8-December 12, 1982); Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (January 15-March 27, 1983).

Murillo. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (January 15-March 27, 1983); Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain (October 8-December 12, 1983).

Leona E. Prasse, Connoisseur and Curator. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 28-August 25, 1985).

Generous Donors: A Tribute to The Print Club of Cleveland. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991).

Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).

Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1968.66