Artwork
Madonna with Sleeping Child
Madonna with Sleeping Child is an oil painting by the Mannerist artist Paris Bordone. It dates from 1550 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum. Created circa 1550, this oil painting portrays the Virgin Mary cradling a sleeping infant Christ.
About this work
Technique & Style
The composition is organized around a softly modeled Madonna holding the Christ Child, whose sleeping form introduces a rhythmic curve across the picture plane.
The painting employs oil on canvas, a medium consistent with Bordone’s practice in the mid-sixteenth century. The support is a medium-weight plain-weave canvas, prepared with a warm ground typical of Venetian technique. Handling shows smooth blending in the flesh passages and delicate scumbling in the drapery, with a restrained palette dominated by warm ochres and reds heightened by cooler blues in the Virgin’s mantle.
The composition is organized around a softly modeled Madonna holding the Christ Child, whose sleeping form introduces a rhythmic curve across the picture plane. Subtle chiaroscuro defines the figures, while a muted, golden light suffuses the scene, aligning with the serene, contemplative mood of late Venetian Renaissance religious painting.
History & Provenance
Paris Bordone created the oil painting known as Madonna with Sleeping Child in 1550. The work, executed in oil on canvas, measures 69.5 cm in height and 83.5 cm in width. It is currently held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
The available records do not specify the original commission details or the full chain of ownership prior to its arrival at the museum.
Madonna with Sleeping Child by Paris Bordone is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. According to the Wikidata record for the painting, its location is listed as the Rijksmuseum, and the work is catalogued as part of that institution's holdings. The painting, executed in oil on canvas in 1550, measures 69.5 by 83.5 centimetres.
No specific accession number or detailed exhibition history is recorded in the available sources for this work.
Overview
Created circa 1550, this oil painting portrays the Virgin Mary cradling a sleeping infant Christ. The composition features a richly dressed figure in a red robe and black mantle, her head veiled in yellow, set against a green curtain that opens onto a distant landscape of mountains and clouds.
Subject & Meaning
The work presents a tender moment of maternal devotion, emphasizing the humanity of the Christ child through his naked, peaceful repose. Mary's downward gaze underscores a contemplative intimacy, inviting reflection on the incarnation and the protective role of the mother.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Paris Bordone (Paris Paschalinus Bordone; 5 July 1500 – 19 January 1571) was an Italian painter of the Venetian Renaissance who, despite training with Titian, maintained a strand of Mannerist complexity and provincial vigor.
