Il Bambino (Italian for "the Babe"), the name given in art to the image of the infant Jesus in swaddling clothes common in Roman Catholic churches. The most famous is the miracle-working Santissimo Bambino in the church of Ara Coeli at Rome, the festival of which is celebrated on the feast of the Epiphany (January 6). It is also the title of a sculpture by Michelangelo of a reclining child. Michelangelo sculpted the statue from a block of scrap marble, then rubbed it with dirt and a wire brush to artificially age it. The sculpture was sold to a collector as a work of ancient Greek classic art.
References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
