Accession Number
1951/2.31

Title
Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes (John 6:5-14)

Artist(s)
Alonso Cano

Artist Nationality
Spanish (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
circa 1652-1657

Medium & Support
pen, bistre and wash on white paper

Dimensions
4 1/16 in x 7 11/16 in (10.32 cm x 19.53 cm);4 1/16 in x 7 11/16 in (10.32 cm x 19.53 cm);14 ⅜ in x 19 ⅜ in (36.51 cm x 49.21 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Label copy
Gallery Rotation Fall 2010
Alonso Cano
Spain, 1601–1667
Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes
circa 1652–57
Pen, bistre, and wash on white paper
Museum purchase, 1951/2.31
In this poetic drawing the Baroque master Alonso Cano portrays the figure of Christ seated beneath some trees with Mary, his mother, two apostles, and a boy gathered around him. This intimate group, deftly drawn in pen and then shaded with a wash that imparts a lyrical mood, represents the critical moment of a large communal event recounted in the Bible, in which Christ miraculously fed five thousand people from five loaves and two fish brought by the boy kneeling next to him (John 6:5–14). This multitude would have appeared in the opening on the left in a painting that was either lost or planned but never completed.

Subject matter
The subject of this drawing is the "Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes" from the New Testament of the Bible (John 6:5-14). Christ instructed his disciples to distribute a young boy's five loaves of bread and two fish to a large crowd that had gathered. All were fed from this small amount of food. In this drawing, Christ is seated in the middle of the group and his hand posture and skyward gaze suggest that the artist is depicting the moment when Christ blessed the loaves and fish before they were given to the crowd.

Physical Description
This drawing is done in brownish ink and wash against a light background, has a narrow horizontal format. It shows a group of figures clustered into the right half of the composition. The central figure is a bearded man, seated under a tree, gazing upward as he holds a loaf of bread in one hand and raises his other hand up in the air. The other figures- two men, a woman and a child- are looking at him intently .

Primary Object Classification
Drawing

Primary Object Type
preparatory drawing

Collection Area
Western

Rights
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Keywords
Bible
Fish
basket
seated
trees