Two Seated Italian Women with a Baby in a Cradle

Kristian Zahrtmann

1889 · Charcoal; framing lines in charcoal (or graphite?), by the artist · Drawings and Prints

From 1885 to 1908, Zahrtmann was one of the leading teachers at Copenhagen’s Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler (Free Arts Schools), founded in the early 1880s as an alternative to the Royal Danish Academy. In the summers he traveled to Italy, eventually establishing a small artists’ colony in Civita d’Antino, a mountain town in the central region of Abruzzo. In this highly finished charcoal drawing—signed and dated by the artist—the models wear traditional clothing of the area. The mother and child gaze toward one another, transcending their physical separation in the composition.

Artist

Kristian Zahrtmann

Date

1889

Medium

Charcoal; framing lines in charcoal (or graphite?), by the artist

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2015