Child-life in Art Part 5

The Christ-child of the Tempi painting is a dimpled baby shyly nestling against his mother's breast; the Sistine Child is a royal messenger lightly enthroned upon the Madonna's arm. In one conception, Mother and Son are absorbed entirely in each other; in the other, they think only of their mission to humanity, their wide eyes searching the future with far-seeing gaze, and their thoughts intent upon the coming of the heavenly kingdom.

We can appreciate the Tempi Madonna at the first glance; the meaning of the Sistine Madonna we can never fully reach, though to contemplate it day by day is to feel our thoughts become purer and our aspirations n.o.bler.

A feature of the child-life of Jesus upon which Raphael loved to dwell is his companionship with his cousin John, a boy of nearly the same age, whose destiny was indissolubly linked with the Christ. Following the Gospel description of the Baptist when he came forth from the desert "clothed with camel's hair and with a girdle of skin about his loins,"

the artist has represented the child John as a dark, faun-like boy, with a little skin garment girt about him,--a picturesque figure to contrast with the fair beauty of the Christ-child.

The two boys are most charming, when, as in the Madonna of the Pearl, the little John seeks with childish eagerness to please his cousin.

Here he is running gleefully to Jesus, with his skin garment full of newly gathered fruit. The Christ-child, seated on his grandmother's knee, beside his mother, stretches out his hands for the gift, his face shining with simple, child-like pleasure. At another time Saint John brings a goldfinch to the Virgin's knee, and the two children lean lovingly against her, Jesus turning his earnest eyes towards the bird, which he thoughtfully strokes. A very pretty incident is embodied in the Aldobrandini Madonna, where the Christ-child reaches from his mother's arms to smilingly bestow a flower upon Saint John.

Other pictures introduce, more or less definitely, an element of devotion on the part of the infant Baptist, as in the Madonna of the Meadow, where he kneels to receive the cross from the hands of the Christ-child. The devotional relation is still more marked in the Belle Jardiniere of the Louvre. In the Holy Family of Casa Canigiani, Jesus is giving Saint John a banner with the words _Ecce Agnus Dei_.

The two boys, as the central figures of the Holy Family, have engaged the brush of nearly every great religious painter, some producing familiar and domestic scenes, others emphasizing the symbolic and religious significance of the theme. Andrea del Sarto treated the subject many times, and usually portrayed the children in a natural and playful intimacy. Pinturicchio painted them running across a flowery meadow to get water from a fountain. Guilio Romano has given us the decidedly domestic scene of Jesus in the bath, with Saint John merrily pouring water upon him. Sometimes, as in a lovely work by Angiolo Bronzino, Saint John is affectionately kissing the sleeping Babe.

It was a beautiful thought on the part of some few artists,--notably Palma Vecchio, Luini, and Murillo,--to introduce a lamb as a playmate for the children, the suggestion having its origin in the Baptist's description of Jesus as the "Lamb of G.o.d."

In Botticelli's Holy Family, Saint John stands by with clasped hands, adoring the Infant. Perugino places him kneeling at a little distance in the rear,--a perfect embodiment of childish devotion. In a painting by t.i.tian, also, he kneels apart, leaning on his cross, and in one by Guido, he humbly kisses the Christ-child's foot.

In a lovely picture by Murillo, called the "Children of the Sh.e.l.l," he kneels to drink from a cup which the little Jesus holds to his lips.

Here the contrast between the two is exquisitely rendered, both from the artistic and the religious point of view, the Christ-child bearing the unmistakable stamp of superiority, in spite of his childish figure, while the infant John is a charming impersonation of reverent and loving humility.

The religious spirit of the old masters has not been successfully imitated by any modern artist who has attempted to delineate the Infant Jesus and Saint John, nor is this to be expected. There are many pleasing works of art, however, which, though differing widely from early Italian standards, have an attractiveness of their own.

Such, for instance, is Boucher's painting, thoroughly characteristic of the artist, and, when considered in itself, a very pretty thing. The two plump babies are bewitching little figures, irresistibly lovable in their dimpled beauty. Sweet cherub faces peep from the surrounding clouds, regarding the holy children with wondering awe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INFANT CHRIST AND SAINT JOHN.--BOUCHER.]

The figure of the Christ-child alone does not belong to the early Renaissance, but by the seventeenth century, the subject had found favor with Guido and Franceschini in Italy, and with Murillo and Zurbaran in Spain. With all these artists it was a favorite custom to depict the child Jesus asleep on the cross. Murillo's Infant Saviour, plaiting a crown of thorns, also belongs to this cla.s.s. These forms of symbolic ill.u.s.tration have their modern counterpart in the work of several German artists. As the Gospel narrative furnishes no actual incidents of the early childhood of Jesus, he is shown in some att.i.tude which will suggest his divine calling. Painted by Ittenbach, he raises his right hand to point the heavenward way, while with his left he indicates his name inscribed in the letters I. H. S. on the breast of his tunic. In Sinkel's picture he holds a tablet of the Commandments, with his finger on the fourth, a sweet expression of Sabbath peace on his face.

Professor Deger's picture expresses a unique and lovely conception of the Christ-child in the fields, communing with his Father, and preparing for his ministry. He is a dreamy-looking boy, of delicate features, and broad, high brow, with fair curls blowing away from his face. Though alone, he lifts his hand in blessing, as if, in his prophetic imagination, the meadows were already peopled with the throngs to whom he is to teach the sweet lessons of the lilies and the sparrow.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHRIST-CHILD.--DEGER.]

The childhood of Jesus came to an end at the age of twelve, when he awoke to the realization that he must be "about his Father's business."

It was a great moment in the quiet life of the Nazarene lad. Mary and Joseph having to make their annual journey to Jerusalem to celebrate the Pa.s.sover, had brought him with them, and allowed him to wander from them. Supposing him to be among the company with which they were travelling, they were well on their homeward way, when they discovered that he was missing. Returning to the city, and seeking him hither and thither, they at length found him in the temple, "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers."

It was the latter part of this account which the early masters seized as the _motif_ of the Dispute in the Temple, and interpreted as meaning that the boy Christ a.s.sumed the position of teacher and preacher to the doctors. In the paintings of Duccio and Giotto, he is sitting on a platform, with the mien and gesture of a learned doctor; while other artists place him on a sort of throne or pulpit. It was left to modern art to conceive the true significance of the event, and to put before us the eager boy, listening and asking questions.

Professor Heinrich Hofmann's beautiful picture shows a profound insight into the wonderful childhood of Jesus, as well as a fine sense of artistic composition. The boy stands in the midst of the group, lifting his eager, inquiring face to the learned doctors surrounding him. His expression conveys all the earnestness of his questionings, and at the same time shows the depth of that power of understanding which so amazed the listeners. Looking from his bright young face to the staid countenances of the professed expounders of the law, a new light flashes upon that mysterious utterance which fell in after times from the same inspired lips: "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes."

[Ill.u.s.tration: HEAD OF BOY CHRIST.--HOFMANN.]

NOTES.

NOTES.

CHAPTER I.--PAGE 3.

[1] Of this picture, Claude Phillips justly observes that it has been "not a little cheapened and obscured by frequent copies, in which the delicate essence of the original has been allowed to evaporate; but a glance at the picture itself renews the magic spell of the master."

The plate for our ill.u.s.tration, being made from a photograph taken directly from the original painting, reproduces the spirit of the picture with remarkable fidelity.

CHAPTER II.--PAGE 29.

[2] The children of the English court were not alone in the good fortune of being immortalized by the brush of Van Dyck. The great artist also painted a little Prince of Savoy, with his sister,--a picture which is now in the Royal Gallery at Turin.

[3] A portrait of Prince Balthasar in court dress, by Velasquez, is in the Belvedere at Vienna.

[4] Dr. Carl Justi has various strong arguments to prove that the Prado portrait of Maria Theresa is incorrectly so called, and, in reality, represents the Infanta Marguerite. The picture is, however, widely accepted as a genuine Maria Theresa, and is catalogued as such by Curtis. I have, therefore, thought best to follow the opinion of the majority on this point.

[5] t.i.tian painted a charming portrait of the Princess Strozzi, which is now in Berlin.

[6] Holbein painted the little Prince Edward, afterwards Edward VI., in two extant portraits,--one, a miniature, in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire, another at Windsor.

CHAPTER III.--PAGE 57.

[7] The dates of Gainsborough's life are 1727-1788.

[8] The two pictures for which Jack Hill served as model are Jack Hill in a Cottage, and Jack Hill, with his Cat, in a Wood.

[9] Gainsborough was followed by several English artists celebrated for their pictures of the child-life of the country. Of these, the most notable were Sir David Wilkie and William Collins.

Wilkie's Blind-Man's Buff, and Collins's Happy as a King are representative examples of their work.

[10] Jean Baptiste Greuze was born in 1725, and died in 1805.

[11] The Father Explaining the Bible to his Children is now in the Dresden Gallery. Mrs. Stranahan, in her History of French Painting, calls attention to the fact that the poet Robert Burns celebrates the same scene in his Cotter's Sat.u.r.day Night.

[12] The Village Bride, called in French, "L'Accordee du Village," is in the Louvre, Paris.

[13] Although Greuze is usually spoken of as introducing a new line of subjects into French art, it is fair to say that Chardin (1699-1799) had already given the initiative. The Little Girl at Breakfast, exhibited at the Salon of 1737, and Le Benedicite, from the Salon of 1740, are highly praised by Mrs. Stranahan for their sympathetic treatment of domestic scenes in humble life.

[14] This description, which I have rendered somewhat freely into English, is an extract from a letter addressed by Mademoiselle Philipon to the Demoiselles Cannet.

CHAPTER IV.--PAGE 87.

[15] The three paintings by Murillo in the Dulwich Gallery, to which reference is made, are:--

The Flower Girl, Two Boys and a Dog, and Three Boys,--one eating a tart.