The Virgin and Child in the Clouds

In this religious print Rembrandt van Rijn visually pulled the bodies of the Virgin and Child apart by placing them on diverging axes. The Virgin looks toward the light of heaven and away from her child. The baby gazes blankly upward, hands empty, grasping at nothing. Together they infuse the image of this icon with expressions of yearning. As a passionate print collector himself, Rembrandt frequently incorporated images by other artists, and references to their work fill his art. The artist adapted this image from a print by Federico Barocci, an early Italian Baroque artist, who established the prototype for the Madonna seated on a cloud with her hands clasped together around the baby Jesus.