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Madonna Adoring the Sleeping Child

early 1460s
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 606
Asleep beneath the solemn gaze of his mother, the Christ Child’s pose is a reminder of his eventual death and sacrifice. Placed on a ledge that resembles an altar, the child doubles as a symbolic representation of the Eucharist, the Christian rite in which sacramental bread is blessed on an altar and becomes the body of Christ. This work is an important early one by Giovanni Bellini, the greatest painter of fifteenth-century Venice and one of the key figures of European painting. Its hard, linear quality is indebted to the example of Bellini’s brother-in-law, Andrea Mantegna, as well as to the sculpture of Donatello, which Bellini studied in Padua. The picture has suffered from a strong, abrasive cleaning.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Madonna Adoring the Sleeping Child
  • Artist: Giovanni Bellini (Italian, Venice, 1424/26–1516 Venice)
  • Date: early 1460s
  • Medium: Tempera on wood
  • Dimensions: 28 1/2 x 18 1/4 in. (72.4 x 46.4 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915
  • Object Number: 30.95.256
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
Madonna and Child, Giovanni Bellini Italian, Oil on wood
Madonna and Child
Giovanni Bellini
late 1480s
Lobster-Tail Burgonet, Steel, leather, gold, North Italian
Lobster-Tail Burgonet
North Italian
ca. 1610
The Adoration of the Shepherds, Andrea Mantegna Italian, Tempera on canvas, transferred from wood
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Andrea Mantegna
shortly after 1450
The Meditation on the Passion, Vittore Carpaccio Italian, Oil and tempera on wood
The Meditation on the Passion
Vittore Carpaccio
ca. 1490
Vulcan Building a Fence Around the Mount of Venus, Giovanni Bellini ca. 1430–1516 Italian, Pen and brown ink, over traces of black chalk.
Vulcan Building a Fence Around the Mount of Venus
Circle of Giovanni Bellini
late 15th century

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