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Child-life in Art
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About this book
This volume is a scholarly survey of how painters have rendered childhood, organized into six chapters that move from idealized types through royal, rural, street, angelic, and Christ‑child subjects. The author opens with a lyrical statement on the universal appeal of child‑life, then proceeds to outline a modest aim: to offer a convenient classification rather than an exhaustive catalogue, drawing on the opinions of standard authorities and personal observations of original works. Illustrations range from Reynolds’s “Strawberry Girl” to Velázquez’s Infantas, each accompanied by concise commentary that highlights the artist’s ability to capture the “essential secrets of child‑life” beyond mere portraiture.
Written in a genteel, late‑Victorian voice, the text blends earnest admiration with a measured academic tone, reflecting the 1894 publication date. It will appeal to readers who enjoy art history, especially those interested in the iconography of children, as well as collectors and students seeking insight into the aesthetic and moral values that nineteenth‑century scholars attached to depictions of youth.
The opening · free to read
The subject of this little book is its best claim upon public favor. Child-life in every form appeals with singular force to the sympathies of all. In palace and in cottage, in the city and in the country, childhood reigns supreme by the divine right of love. No monarch rules more mightily than the infant sovereign in the Kingdom of Home, and none more beneficently. His advent brings a bit of heaven into our midst, and we become more gentle and tender for the sacred influence. Every phase of the growing young life is beautiful and interesting to us. Every new mood awakens in us a sense of awe before unfolding possibilities for good or evil.
The poetry of childhood is full of attractiveness to the artist, and many and varied are the forms in which he interprets it. The Christ-child has been his highest ideal. All that human imagination could conceive of innocence and purity and divine loveliness has been shown forth in the delineation of the Babe of Bethlehem. The influence of such art has made itself felt upon all child pictures. It matters not whether the subject be a prince or a street-waif; the true artist sees in him something which is lovable and winning, and transfers it to his canvas for our lasting pleasure.
Art has produced so many representations of children that it would be a hopeless task to attempt a complete enumeration of them, and the book makes no pretensions to exhaustiveness. The aim has been merely to suggest a convenient outline of classification, and to describe a few characteristic examples in each group. The nature of the undertaking has, of course, necessitated consulting the works of many standard authorities, to whom I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness. The names of the most prominent are included in the bibliographical list. While faithfully studying their opinions, I have always reserved the right of forming an independent estimate of any painting considered, especially when, as in many cases, I have myself seen the original. I am under great obligations to my friend Professor Anne Eugenia Morgan of Wellesley for first showing me, through her philosophical art-interpretations, the true meaning and value of the works of the masters. From these interpretations I have drawn many of the suggestions which are embodied in the descriptions of the following pages.
While addressing lovers of children primarily, I have also hoped to interest students in the history of art. I have therefore added a few notes containing further details in regard to some of the subjects.
E. M. H.
NEW BEDFORD, MASS., June 1, 1894.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE I. CHILDHOOD IN IDEAL TYPES 3 II. CHILDREN BORN TO THE PURPLE 29 III. THE CHILDREN OF FIELD AND VILLAGE 57 IV. THE CHILD-LIFE OF THE STREETS 87 V. CHILD-ANGELS 115 VI. THE CHRIST-CHILD 141
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
NATURE Lawrence
PORTRAIT OF PRINCE JAMES, DUKE OF YORK Van Dyck 33 From a painting in San Luca, Rome, after the Turin portrait by Van Dyck.
PORTRAIT OF PRINCESS MARY STUART AND PRINCE WILLIAM II. OF ORANGE Van Dyck 39 From the original painting in Amsterdam.
PORTRAIT OF THE INFANTA MARIA THERESA Velasquez 45 From the original painting in the Prado, Madrid.
PORTRAIT OF THE INFANTA MARGUERITE Velasquez 49 From the original painting in the Louvre, Paris.
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