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Christ and the Virgin in the House at Nazareth
Also known as: The Holy House of Nazareth
About the Artwork
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
Until 1920: Probably the Count of Walterstorff [1755-1820]1 1821: (Probably Walterstorff sale, Laneuville, Paris, March 26-27, 1821, no. 65, sold to Laneuville)1 After 1821-1960: Various private collections in France 1960: (François Heim, Paris, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1960-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
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). Zurbarán. National Gallery, London, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (May 2-August 23, 2026) https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/zurbaran; Musée du Louvre, Paris, France (October 7, 2026-January 25, 2027); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (organizer) (February 28-June 20, 2027).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Francisco de Zurbarán (Spanish, 1598–1664)
- Date
- c. 1640
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 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.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1960.117
More by Francisco de Zurbarán in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009150
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