The Nurse

Guillaume Dupré

model ca. 1607–8 · Lead-glazed earthenware · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

The wet nurse holds in her lap a swaddled baby wearing a quilted head protector. The composition may conform to a pair of figures reportedly given in 1608 by Henri IV’s infant son, Nicolas Henri de France, duc d’Orléans (1607–1611), to his betrothed, Marie de Bourbon (1605–1627). Similar nurses with swaddled babies appear in paintings of bathing noblewomen by the court artist François Clouet (ca. 1516–1572) and his followers.

Artist

Guillaume Dupré

Date

model ca. 1607–8

Medium

Lead-glazed earthenware

Culture

French, Fontainebleau or Avon

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

The Lesley and Emma Sheafer Collection, Bequest of Emma A. Sheafer, 1973