CC0 · no rights reserved
Sleeping Children
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
William Henry Rinehart's marble sculpture of two sleeping children beautifully captures a peaceful moment in time. An anonymous visitor to the artist's studio at the time reported that Rinehart sculpted the children from life as they napped, allowing him to render their ringlets and chubby hands in exquisite detail. Nineteenth-century artists used sleeping figures to evoke death, and images like this often served as grave markers. An early replica of Sleeping Children can be found in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, on the family plot of the artist's patron and friend, Hugh Sisson.
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineSleeping Children. modeled 1859, carved 1869. William Henry Rinehart, born Union Bridge, MD 1825-died Rome, Italy 1874. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Benjamin H. Warder. CC0.
