He is sleeping! 1870

Gerolamo Induno created this painting, “He is sleeping!” in the late 19th century, a period characterized by significant social changes in Europe. Induno, who participated in the Italian independence wars, often depicted scenes of everyday life, infused with subtle social commentary. Here, we see two women attending a sleeping infant in an ornate cradle. The setting suggests a prosperous household, yet the dynamic between the women hints at more than domestic tranquility. One woman looks pensively at the child with a melancholic expression, while the other is sewing, perhaps indifferent to the first woman's mood. Consider the constraints placed on women during this era, where their roles were largely confined to the domestic sphere. Induno subtly captures the emotional landscape of women bound by societal expectations, while also drawing attention to the labor often unseen and unacknowledged. "He is sleeping!" thus becomes a window into the complex realities of 19th-century womanhood, reflecting both its comforts and its discontents.