Sleeping Children

William Henry Rinehart, born Union Bridge, MD 1825-died Rome, Italy 1874 · modeled 1859, carved 1869

William Henry Rinehart's marble sculpture 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.