Vittore Carpaccio
Virgin and Child with the Young St. John the Baptist

The Christ child, a slightly older John the Baptist and Mary have withdrawn to pray. Jesus is sitting on a window breast that separates the exterior space from the interior, making him into the mediator between the world outside and the private devotional space. 

He's wearing a shirt, a tunic, a red cap, a string of beads and dainty little red shoes – a typical outfit for Venetian infants in the early 16th century. But while his mother has already bowed her head and clasped her hands in prayer, the two boys aren't yet ready for the tranquillity of devotion. The Christ child is rather awkwardly turning the pages of a psalter. John raises his right hand to point at the book, which draws a look from the Christ Child. Neither is yet copying the Virgin's pious gesture, and silent prayer will have to wait.

We don't know who commissioned this lifelike scene from Carpaccio. But it probably adorned a woman's room and was intended for private devotions. The thinking prevalent in Venice during the time around 1500 held that women ought to stay in their rooms, where they were to instruct their children in matters of religion. So this scene may have served as an example to be imitated... with the two inattentive boys adding a degree of realism.

A similar scene by Carpaccio's hand has survived as a sketch. It's the second picture at this stop. There, both the Virgin and the Christ child are sitting on a window breast or in a window opening. Mary has opened a book and is looking across the pages at her son. He's perched on a cushion and appears to be listening attentively to his mother – finally!