Maria met kind Possibly 1768

Francesco Bartolozzi produced this print of the Virgin and Child, sometime in the late eighteenth century. The image speaks to the period’s evolving notions of motherhood and the family, which were becoming increasingly sentimentalized. Bartolozzi, an Italian who spent much of his career in England, worked within an expanding print market that catered to a growing middle class eager for accessible and emotionally resonant imagery. We might consider the role of institutions like the Royal Academy in shaping artistic tastes and the demand for such prints. This work reflects a broader cultural shift toward valuing domesticity and private life, ideas that were circulated through art and literature. To fully understand this artwork, one might delve into sources, such as conduct books and domestic manuals, that reveal period attitudes towards family life. Ultimately, this print serves as a reminder that art is not made in a vacuum, but is deeply intertwined with the social and cultural conditions of its time.