Artwork
A Sleeping Girl (Boy ?) with a Songbook
A Sleeping Girl (Boy ?) with a Songbook is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist Bernhard Keil. It dates from 1671 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Bernhard Keil's painting depicts a sleeping child accompanied by a songbook, rendered in oil on canvas.
Bernhard Keil's painting depicts a sleeping child accompanied by a songbook, rendered in oil on canvas. The work is based on the earlier motif of the Sleeping Girl, which Keil reinterpreted by substituting a child for the original female figure, as suggested by the title's parenthetical uncertainty ("Boy?"). The songbook functions as a quiet iconographic attribute, signaling music, leisure, and the gentle world of childhood, while the child's slumber evokes innocence and stillness.
Together, the figure and the open book transform a traditional sleeping-figure composition into a tender meditation on youthful rest and the cultural refinements of domestic life.
Technique & Style
The work is an oil painting on canvas measuring 40 cm in height and 130.5 cm in width, dated to 1671.
The composition centers on a recumbent figure, rendered in a restrained palette with careful attention to the play of light across the form. The handling emphasizes smooth modeling and subtle transitions in tone, particularly in the rendering of the face and hands, while the drapery and surrounding space receive more generalized treatment. The songbook lies open near the figure, its pages indicated with delicate, linear hatching.
Overall, the execution aligns with the restrained naturalism and quiet mood characteristic of Northern European painting of the late seventeenth century.
History & Provenance
Bernhard Keil created the oil painting A Sleeping Girl (Boy?) with a Songbook in 1671. The work, executed on canvas, depicts a child with a songbook and measures 40 cm in height by 130.5 cm in width. It is based on an earlier composition titled Sleeping Girl. The painting is currently held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
Overview
Bernhard Keil’s oil painting dated 1671, titled A Sleeping Girl (Boy?) with a Songbook, is part of the collection of Denmark’s Statens Museum for Kunst. The work presents a quiet domestic interior in which a young child lies asleep on a table, surrounded by modest objects that suggest a moment of repose.
Artist & collection
