Spanish school of the early 20th century

Spanish school of the early twentieth century.
"The Infant Jesus Sleeping on the Cross", 1914.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated.
Presents some paint flaws. Lacks in the frame.
Measurements: 57 x 77 cm; 75 x 96 cm (frame).

This work shows the Child Jesus sleeping on the cross, as depicted by Orazio Lomi Gentileschi in his painting attributed to him today preserved in the Prado Museum (not on display).
Christian art took delight throughout its history, and especially in the Modern Age, in projecting on the innocent infancy of Jesus the shadow of the cross. The contrast between the happy unconcern of a child and the horror of the sacrifice to which he was predestined was designed to move hearts. This idea was already familiar to the theologians of the Middle Ages, but the artists of that time expressed it discreetly, either through the worried expression of the Virgin, or through the bunch of grapes that the Child squeezes in his hands. It was especially in the art of the Counter-Reformation that this funeral presentiment of the Passion was expressed by means of transparent allusions. Zurbarán shows the Infant Jesus pricking himself with his finger while braiding a crown of thorns. Murillo, the little St. John the Baptist showing him his cross of reeds. Finally, the theme finds its most moving expression in the theme of the Child Jesus Sleeping on the Cross.