Studio of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

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Description

Bartolomé Estebán Murillo
The sleeping christ child
oil on canvas

Provenance

Edward Davies Davenport, Capesthorne Hall, Cheshire, by 1845;
Thence by descent to Lady Bromley Davenport;
Her (deceased) sale ("The Property of the late Lady Bromley Davenport, Sold by the Order of the Executors"), London, Christie's, 5 July 1991, lot 244A (as Studio of Murillo), for £19,000.

Exhibited

London, British Institution, 1845, no. 90.

Literature

C.B. Curtis, Velazquez and Murillo, 1883, p. 280, no. 425R;
D. Angulo Iñiguez, Murillo, Madrid 1981, vol. II, p. 193, under no. 208.

Catalogue Note

The prime original of this composition is believed to be a painting (51 by 79 cm.) formerly at Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire, which Angulo-Iñiguez (see Literature) dates to circa 1660-70. The present painting appears to be a high quality studio production, with a number of minor variations, notably to the arrangement of the drapery on which the Christ Child sleeps, as well as the depiction of the gathered crimson drape, only partially included in the Luton Hoo painting.

We are grateful to Professor Alfonso Pérez-Sánchez for endorsing the attribution on the basis of a colour transparency.