Childhood of the Virgin

Zurbaran made his name with severe, sculptural saints and monks lit against darkness, so the tenderness of this little picture belongs to his last years, around 1658. It shows the Virgin Mary as a small girl, pausing from her work. A tradition held that her parents brought her as a young child to the Temple in Jerusalem, where she learned scripture and needlework, and older versions of the scene often show a sewing basket beside her. Here she has stopped, hands folded, eyes lifted, a moment of prayer caught between chores. The face is gentle and particular, and it is often said the painter used his own young daughter as the model. It was made small and warm on purpose, a picture to keep close for private devotion.