The Virgin and Child

A black chalk drawing shows the Virgin seated and bending over the Christ Child, who rests on her lap and reaches toward her. Her head is haloed and bowed, and soft shading models the drapery and the folds of the cloth behind them. The loose, smudged chalk gives the group a tender, meditative presence.

Look closer: A faint inscription in the lower left corner, partly legible.

Artist

Fra Bartolomeo (Bartolomeo di Paolo del Fattorino)

Date

ca. 1515–17

Medium

Black chalk

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

2635 × 3244 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880