Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

St. Felix of Cantalice Holding the Christ Child

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
1617-1682

St. Felix of Cantalice Holding the Christ Child

ca. 1668-69
13 x 9 1/8 inches (330 x 232 mm)
Pen and brown ink and wash, lead white opaque watercolor, over black chalk, on laid paper.
I, 110

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.

Notes
A study after the painting in the Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes, Seville.
Murillo was Seville's most successful artist during the seventeenth century. His largest commission was the pictorial decoration for the chapel of the Capuchinos de Sevilla. This drawing is a preparatory study for a painting of St. Felix of Cantalice, formerly on a side altar of that church. Felix was a member and patron of the Capuchins, an independent order of Franciscans; he was visited by the Virgin and Child as a reward for his charitable work. In this drawing, the artist explored the configuration of the kneeling saint and squirming Christ child, while the bread and setting are sparingly executed. --Exhibition Label, from "Visions and Nightmares: Four Centuries of Spanish Drawings"
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed at lower right, in pen and brown ink, "Bartolome Murillo fet".
Associated names
Reid, George William, 1819-1887, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Bibliography
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 110.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department