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Mother and Child
Julius Gari Melchers (American, 1860–1932)
c. 1906
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 63.5 × 54.3 cm (25 × 21 3/8 in.)
- Culture
- Netherlands
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of the Americas
- Credit line
- Gift of James Deering
- 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
Julius Gari Melchers specialized in naturalistic depictions of peasant life, including this compassionate rendering of a Dutch woman and her child. After studying in Düsseldorf and Paris, the artist settled in Holland, where he was inspired by contemporary Dutch painters of the Hague School, which focused on local landscapes and rural communities. Melchers portrayed the pair with vivid intensity, contrasting the mother’s direct gaze with the charming appeal of the baby’s chubby face. The rapid brushwork used to describe the clothing and the swaddling blanket contributes to the freshness of his depiction. In 1906 Mother and Child was exhibited at both the Paris Salon and the Art Institute.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
