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[Illustration: THE SISTINE MADONNA.--RAPHAEL.]




  CHILD-LIFE IN ART
  BY
  ESTELLE M. HURLL, M.A.


  Illustrated


    Children are God's apostles, day by day
    Sent forth to preach of love and hope and peace.
                                          LOWELL.


  BOSTON
  JOSEPH KNIGHT COMPANY
  1895




  _Copyright, 1894,_
  BY JOSEPH KNIGHT COMPANY.


  University Press:
  JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.




PREFACE.


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.


                                                                   PAGE

  SISTINE MADONNA                           Raphael       _Frontispiece_

  THE STRAWBERRY GIRL                       Reynolds                  7

  PENELOPE BOOTHBY                          Reynolds                 15

  ANGEL HEADS                               Reynolds                 19
      _From the original painting in the National Gallery, London._

  NATURE                                    Lawrence                 23

  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._

  RUSTIC CHILDREN                           Gainsborough             59

