The present Annette and Bruno dates from 1911 and was produced by Bruno's father, Giovanni Giacometti. While portraits of the Giacometti children are considered among his favorite subjects, the motif of the nursing mother is singular in the oeurve of Giovanni Giacometti. From 1908 to 1911, Giacometti produced drawings, prints and paintings on the subject of mother and infant. As Giacometti reworked the compositions, the formal qualities of the intimate scene came to resemble traditional depictions of the Nursing Madonna. During this period, Giacometti was looking closely at the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne and Ferdinand Hodler, influences that emerged at once in the major painting The Mother (1911) unseen since 1913 when it resurfaced at Christie's Zurich in December 2007 (Sale 1351, lot 130). When compared with our woodblock print Annette and Bruno, it is clear that Giacometti realized this composition immediately preceeding, or shortly thereafter completing The Mother (1911).

An earlier composition of the subject is known by the oil study on carboard Giovine madre (1910) (Kornfeld 16 June 2023, lot 56), and the corresponding oil on canvas by the same name Giovine madre (Muller/Radlach 1910.22).

Giacometti would return to this woodblock in suceeeding years, printing few sheets from his press in Zurich as gifts to friends and for personal enjoyment.