Virgin Teaching the Christ Child to Read

Gallery 351, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Main Building

Virgin Teaching the Christ Child to Read

c. 1494-1497

Pinturicchio (Bernardino di Betto) (Italian (active central Italy), 1454–1513)

Tales of the Virgin teaching her son to read come from the very popular thirteenth-century text Meditations on the Life of Christ, which narrated many incidents not found in the Bible. The two appear here in the foreground of a landscape in which two other scenes are shown: on the left the Holy Family's flight into Egypt, and on the right the young John the Baptist's retreat into the wilderness.

Gallery 351, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Object Details

Title:

Virgin Teaching the Christ Child to Read

Date:

c. 1494-1497

Artist:

Pinturicchio (Bernardino di Betto) (Italian (active central Italy), 1454–1513)

Medium:

Oil and gold on panel

Dimensions:

24 1/8 x 16 1/2 inches (61.3 x 41.9 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

John G. Johnson Collection, 1917

Accession Number:

Inv. 1336

Geography:

Made in Rome, Italy, Europe

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Gallery 351, European Art 1500-1850, third floor

Main Building

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