Sleeping Child

Sleeping Child, an undated oil on canvas, belongs to the domestic and intimate subject matter that Zorn explored throughout his career alongside his grander figure pieces and portraits. The sleeping child was a subject with deep roots in Western painting — from Madonna and Child compositions through genre painting's domestic interiors — but in Zorn's hands it became primarily a study in the quality of light on a relaxed, unconscious figure. Children asleep presented the challenge of capturing both the vulnerability of unconsciousness and the specific quality of light falling on a small, rounded form. Without a date it is difficult to place the work precisely within his development, but the subject's intimacy suggests it was painted at Mora, possibly of a child known to the Zorn household, in the private spirit that characterises his most personal domestic subjects.

Oil on canvas with warm, gentle handling suited to the delicate subject. The quality of light on a sleeping child's face requires a particularly sensitive management of tonal gradation — softer and rounder than the more angular light relationships of adult portraiture. The palette is warm and domestic, consistent with an interior setting.