The Madonna and Sleeping Child with the Infant St John the Baptist
The Madonna and Sleeping Child with the Infant St John the Baptist or Il Silenzio ("The Silence") is oil on canvas painting by Annibale Carracci, now in the Royal Collection. It is currently on display in Hampton Court Palace.

It was produced around 1599-1600 whilst he was working on the Palazzo Farnese ceiling paintings in Rome. Intended as a small devotional work, it measures only 51.2 x 68.4 cm. A preparatory sketch for the whole composition survives in black chalk, ink, and pen, whilst John the Baptist's pointing gesture is similar to that of the right-hand putto in the contemporaneous "Pietà", with both paintings using a pyramidical composition. Some pentimenti are visible to X-ray, infra-red reflectography, and the naked eye.

The work was much copied and referenced, most notably around 1605 by Domenichino (Louvre). It was recorded in inventories of the Farnese Collection at Palazzo del Giardino in Parma in 1678 and circa 1680 before being acquired in 1766 for George III by Richard Dalton - Dalton then also owned the black chalk, pen and ink sketch for it. The following year Francis Cotes produced a pastel portrait of George's wife Queen Charlotte holding their daughter Charlotte, Princess Royal and making a gesture similar to the Virgin Mary's in tribute to the acquisition of "Il Silenzio".

Carracci's work was initially hung at Buckingham House, where Francesco Bartolozzi engraved it in 1768. George's son the Prince Regent had Henry Bone produce an enamel-on-copper copy of the work in 1814, whilst the original was on show at Windsor Castle when Charles Wild produced the illustrations for Henry Pyne's "Royal Residences", published in 1819.
Q7824
Annibale Carracci
PER
Q1459037
Royal Collection
MEDIA
Q205666
Hampton Court Palace
LOC
Q848386
Palazzo Farnese
LOC
Q21121936
Pietà
MEDIA
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pentimenti
Concept
Q320118
Domenichino
PER
Q19675
Louvre
LOC
Q2982847
Farnese Collection
Concept
Q3891285
Palazzo del Giardino
Concept
Q2683
Parma
LOC
Q127318
George III
PER
Q17308933
Richard Dalton
PER
Q632772
Francis Cotes
PER
Q161159
Queen Charlotte
PER
Q57536
Charlotte, Princess Royal
PER
Q42182
Buckingham House
LOC
Q734889
Francesco Bartolozzi
PER
Q130586
Prince Regent
PER
Q5196210
Henry Bone
PER
Q42646
Windsor Castle
LOC
Q18162706
Charles Wild
PER
Q8012127
Henry Pyne
PER
Q28031091
The Madonna and Sleeping Child with the Infant St John the Baptist
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1599
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