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About the 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 create the feeling of incessant motion while the addition of ink wash creates deep shadows across the forms.
Inscriptions
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
Exhibition history
Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968). Year in Review for 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, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Spanish, 1617–1682)
- Date
- c. 1670–72
- 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 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.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection
- Accession no.
- 1968.66
More by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00000334
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