Skip to Main Content
77/92

Fresco Painting

Figure 78 Saint Christopher and the Infant Christ, ca. 1472-ca.1475;
artist: Domenico Ghirlandaio (Italian painter, 1449-1494)
fresco, object: 284.5 x 149.9 cm (112 x 59 in) ;
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, New York), Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880, 80.3.674 © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. All Rights Reserved.

Object/Work🔺

  • Catalog Level:🔺 item (value type: controlled list)
  • Type:🔺 fresco (value type: authority)

Classification🔺

  • Terms:🔺
    painting
    mural
    European Art (value type: controlled list)

Titles or Names🔺

  • Text:🔺 Saint Christopher and the Infant Christ (value type: free text)
    Preference: preferred (value type: controlled list)
    Type: repository

Creation🔺

  • Creator Description:🔺 Domenico Ghirlandaio (Italian painter, 1449-1494) (value type: free text)

  • Identity:🔺 Ghirlandaio, Domenico (_value type: authority)
    Role:🔺 painter

  • Creation Date🔺 ca. 1472-1475 (value type: free text)
    Earliest:🔺 1467 Latest:🔺 1480 (value type: controlled format)

  • Creation Place/Original Location: Florence (Italy) (value type: free text and/or controlled format)

Style/Period/Group/Movement

  • Indexing Terms: Renaissance (value type: authority)

Measurements🔺

  • Dimensions Description:🔺 284.5 x 149.9 cm (112 x 59 in.) (value type: free text)

  • Value: 284.5 Unit: cm Type: height
    Value: 149.9 Unit: cm Type: width(value type: controlled format and controlled lists)

Materials and Techniques🔺

  • Description:🔺 Fresco (value type: free text)

  • Technique Name: fresco (value type: authority)

Subject Matter🔺

  • Indexing Terms:🔺
    religion/mythology
    human figures
    male
    baby
    Saint Christopher (Christian martyr)
    Jesus Christ
    water
    halos
    staff (value type: authority)

Descriptive Note

  • Text: Though once falsely associated with a fresco by Antonio del Pollaiuolo on the façade of the church of San Miniato fra le Torri in Florence, this work is now widely considered to be an early work by Ghirlandaio. However, contemporary scholarship continues to suggest the idea that Ghirlandaio was in some way inspired by the lost Pollaiuolo fresco in his construction of this work. The exact provenance of the fresco is unknown, but some believe it to have decorated a chapel in the Michelozzi villa in Florence. This work depicts Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, with the infant Christ resting on his shoulder. (value type: free text)

  • Citation: The Met Collection online (value type: authority)
    Page: accessed 19 July 2024 (value type: free text)

Current Location🔺

  • Repository Name/Geographic Location:🔺 The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, New York, United States) (value type: authority)
    Repository Numbers:🔺 80.3.674 (value type: free text)

NOTE: 🔺 indicates a core

Revised 25 July 2024
by Emily Benoff

Figure 78 Saint Christopher and the Infant Christ, ca. 1472-ca.1475;
artist: Domenico Ghirlandaio (Italian painter, 1449-1494)
fresco, object: 284.5 x 149.9 cm (112 x 59 in) ;
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, New York), Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880, 80.3.674 © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. All Rights Reserved.