Zurbarán, Francisco de (1598-1664)
Virgen Niña (The Young Virgin)
c.1632–1633
Oil on canvas, 116.8 x 94 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
According to medieval legend, as a girl the Virgin Mary lived in the Temple in Jerusalem, where she devoted herself to praying and sewing vestments. This was a subject particularly popular in seventeenth-century Italian and Spanish paintings, where the little
Virgin—devout and busy at her tasks—served as a model of behavior for young girls. The delicate handling of the Virgin’s face and attention to detail in the still-life elements, each neatly individuated and meticulously placed, are characteristic of Zurbarán’s work. (MET)