Public data from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Learn more
About the Artwork
Monastic life was a popular subject among painters working in Munich, where Ture Nikolaus Cederström spent much of his career. The monk seen here is immersed in thought, looking pensively through a window and using his finger to hold his place in a book. Such paintings were popular for the access they provided to private life within monasteries, which were closed to the public. The monk’s casual pose and absorption in the view provide an approachable vision of religion, showing the figure’s longing for the outside world.
Inscriptions
Signed lower left in light-brown/umber: Th: Cederström / München
Provenance
Frances W. Ingalls, Cleveland. Given to the CMA in 1996.
Exhibition history
Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Ture Nikolaus Cederström (Swedish, 1843–1924)
- Date
- 1890s
- Medium
- oil on fabric
- Dimensions
- Unframed: 47 x 33.5 cm (18 1/2 x 13 3/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Gift of the Frances W. Ingalls Trust
- Accession no.
- 1996.274
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-00009778
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