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Sleeping Children
modeled 1859, carved 1869
William Henry Rinehart
Born: Union Bridge, Maryland 1825
Died: Rome, Italy 1874
marble
15 3/8 x 36 3/4 x 18 3/4 in. (38.9 x 93.3 x 47.6 cm.)
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of Mrs. Benjamin H. Warder
1920.4.1
Smithsonian American Art Museum
3rd Floor, Luce Foundation Center
William Henry Rinehart's marble sculture 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.
For more information about this work visit the Luce Foundation Center.
Keywords
Children
State of being - other - sleep
sculpture
stone - marble
About William Henry Rinehart
Born: Union Bridge, Maryland 1825 Died: Rome, Italy 1874
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