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Children in Renaissance Art: From Sacred Infants to Playful Putti
Children in Renaissance Art: From Sacred Infants to Playful Putti
A tender Christ Child presses his cheek against his mother's face—a gesture repeated across centuries and cultures—while bronze boys stand in defiant contrapposto and cherubs peek from gilded altarpieces. This tour traces how Renaissance artists transformed the representation of childhood, from the solemn Christ Child of medieval tradition to the chubby, mischievous putti that would define the era's visual language.
120 minutes
21 stops
Beginning at the Great Hall, this tour moves through the Robert Lehman Collection (Galleries 952–956) and European Sculpture and Decorative Arts galleries (Galleries 536–544), all on Floor 1. The route follows a logical progression through adjacent galleries, exploring how Renaissance artists across Italy, the Netherlands, and Northern Europe depicted children in religious and secular contexts.
Galleries: 952 → 956 → 953 → 537 → 536 → 534 → 536 → 504 → 544 → 547 → 305