UK
Collection

Baby Jesus Sleeping Among the Angels

Szymon Czechowicz

  • Baby Jesus Sleeping Among the Angels 2
  • Baby Jesus Sleeping Among the Angels 3
Basic information
ID
Ж-4238
Author
Szymon Czechowicz
Name
Baby Jesus Sleeping Among the Angels
Date of creation
c.1767
Country
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Technique
oil painting
Material
canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
117.5 x 87
Additionally
Type
painting
Genre
religious painting
Plot
Childhood of Jesus Christ
Provenance
Lviv Historical Museum
Exposition
Zhovkva Castle
Information about author
Author
Szymon Czechowicz
Artist's lifetime
1689–1775
Biography
Szymon Czechowicz was born in an impoverished noble family in Krakow on July 28, 1689. He became an orphan at a young age. Thanks to the support of his patron and philanthropist Franciszek Ossolinski, the artist went to Rome, where he studied painting at the Academy of St. Luke under the guidance of Carlo Maratti. The first professional works of the artist were copies after famous painters, such as Rubens, Van Dyck and others; the artist drew upon their iconographic compositions. In 1765, at the invitation of Waclaw Rzewuski, he arrived at Pidhirtsi Castle in the Lviv region; by 1767, Czechowicz created 107 works that became part of the castle interior and a kind of the first museum of the artist. During the last period of his life, Szymon Czechowicz worked in Lithuania and Warsaw, where he opened his own art studio. The artist died on July 21, 1775. He was considered to be one of the best artists of the Baroque era in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Among the artist's creative legacy there are portraits and monumental paintings on sacred themes.
Object description
This is a multi-figure composition, in the center of which there is a sleeping figure of a baby Christ; he is surrounded by five child angels, with only one of them depicted with wings. The golden halo is over the head of Christ. The sleeping figure is turned to the right of the viewers. His feet are covered with a blue coat (?). The angel depicted on the right side of Christ has a wreath in his hands. A bouquet of pink flowers (roses?) is at the feet of Christ. One of the flowers fell out of the bouquet on the floor. Blue mountains are visible in the background. At the top of the picture there is a host of angels represented with clearly defined children's faces.

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