1671
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Madonna Nursing the Christ Child is a 1671 by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows Mary in a blue robe holding a peaceful baby Jesus. Soft light falls on their faces, making them glow. The gentle curve of Mary’s arm and Jesus’s tiny hands create a warm, quiet moment. Murillo uses loose, sketchy lines here. They catch the movement of the figures before he finished the final painting. The drawing feels alive—less stiff than his polished oils. See how the lines zigzag? That’s his trick to show energy. Look up Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Spanish, 1617–1682) to see more like it.
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…
The inscription Morillo on this drawing is not the artist's signature but rather a notation likely made by a 17th-century owner of the drawing.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo ( mure-IL-oh, m(y)uu-REE-oh, Spanish: ; late December 1617, baptised 1 January 1618 – 3 April 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter.
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