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Birth of the Virgin
Giuseppe Cades (Italian, 1750-1799)
c. 1784
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink with pen and brown wash, over traces of graphite, heightened with white gouache (discolored), on ivory laid paper
- Classification
- Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions
- 42 × 56 cm (16 9/16 × 22 1/16 in.)
- Culture
- Italy
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- Bequest of Inge Maser
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Cades divides his scene of the Virgin Mary’s birth into two symbolic halves. In the background at right, deep in shadow, Mary’s mother Saint Anne recuperates in bed. In the foreground at left, bathed in light, Saint Joachim gestures toward the infant Mary. Influenced by both ancient Roman sculptural reliefs and Italian Renaissance painting (particularly that of Raphael), the artist rendered the birth of the Virgin as if it were carved from time-stained marble. The drawing is characterized by strong contour lines, monochromatic coloring, and a frieze-like arrangement.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
