Anonymous, Christ Blessing Children Southern Netherlands, c.1570 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
“And people
were bringing children to Him that he might touch them, but the disciples
rebuked them. When Jesus saw this He became indignant and said
to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of
God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept
the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” Then He embraced them and blessed them,
placing His hands on them.”
Mark 10:13-16 (Similar also in Matthew 19:13-15 and Luke 18:15-17)
The Gospels record several instances in which Jesus said similar words
about children, suggesting that being part of the Kingdom of God requires that
we have childlike innocence and childlike trust in order to be part of it.
Market Cross, Christ Blessing Children Lowest register Irish, 10th Century Kells, County Meath, Ireland |
Artists have responded with images that derive from these sayings. Yet, it seems that these images have not been uniformly spread throughout the Christian era.
They seem to cluster in groups,
perhaps reflecting some of the ways in which the words of Jesus have
reverberated through history. This may
not represent the totality of what may have been done and subsequently
destroyed or which is otherwise not available to a reasonably thorough internet search,
of course, but it is suggestive.
Ottonian ivory, Christ Blessing Children German, 968 Paris, Musee du Louvre |
In the first millennium I found very few visual references to these passages and those only toward the end of the period, in the tenth century.1 One, a panel of the so-called Market Cross from the monastic town of Kells in County Meath, Ireland (eventual hiding place of the famous Book of Kells), shows a badly eroded scene from a series on the life of Christ, which may show Jesus blessing smaller figures, which can be interpreted as the blessing of children. The other, is a small Ottonian ivory plaque, clearly showing a scene in which Christ is imparting a blessing to a little one.
Christ Blessing Children, from Gospels of Otto III German (Reichenau), c.1000 Munich, Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek MS Clm 4453, fol. 116v |
The first five hundred years of the second millennium seem to fare little better, in spite of a few appearances in manuscript paintings.
T'Oros Roslin, Christ Blessing Children from Book of the Gospels Armenian, 1262 Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery MS W539, 83v |
Jean Colombe, Christ Blessing Children from Ludolphe de Saxe, Vita Jesu Christi French (Bourges), 1475-1499 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 178, fol. 46 |
Georg Pencz, Christ Blessing Children German, 1540 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
However, at the beginning of the
second half of the second millennium there is a virtual explosion of images
based on these texts. The images appear
most frequently in Germany and the Low Countries and appear in all forms of
media from paintings to prints and even to Delftware and, in one charming
instance, to dollhouse furniture! Art
historians have speculated that this sudden surge in the appearance of a
previously infrequently imagined New Testament subject may be related to the
upheavals of the Reformation in a very specific way.2
Following the first appearance of what would become Protestant
theology, with Luther’s initial outburst of 1517; other, more radical,
reformers also appeared. Among the most
radical were loosely constituted groups that were known as Anabaptists. The mini-sects that formed as part of the
Anabaptist groupings are the ancestors of some of today’s most marginalized
Christian groups, such as the Amish and the Mennonites, as well as the several
varieties of Baptists and denominations deriving from them.
Jacob and Albert Maler, Christ Blessing Children Dutch, 1550-1575 Kampen, Stedelijk Museum Kampen |
In the highly political and militarized
sixteenth century the Anabaptists were distinguished by their pacifism, by a form of
primitive communism and by their refusal of allegiance to the civil
authorities. A messianic Anabaptist city
government set up in the city of Munster in Germany during the early 1530s,
following shortly on the horrors of the German Peasants’ War (1525-1525), brought both Catholic and Protestant princes into the field against them. This resulted in their destruction as a
religious grouping within the German states and the move of many survivors to
the east, into Moravia, where they were able to survive. Other groups headed for England.
One
of the Anabaptists' primary doctrinal differences with both Catholic and Lutheran
Christians, still recognizable in their descendants today, was over the practice of infant
baptism. For the Anabaptists only an
adult can be baptized, after making a confession of belief. This set them against both the Catholic practice, which had developed over the centuries since the last Roman persecutions, and against Luther and his followers, who followed the Catholic tradition.3
Master H.B. a la tete de Griffon, Christ Blessing Children German, c.1550 Paris, Museee du Louvre |
Leonard Gaultier, Christ Blessing the Children French, c.1576-1580 Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art |
Art historians have seen the sudden upswing in images of Christ
blessing the children as a support for the idea of infant baptism, as practiced
both by the Catholic church and the Lutherans and other groups derived from
them (such as the Anglicans). For, if even the smallest child was worthy of being blessed by Jesus and held up as a model for the adult Christian, then even the smallest child can have faith and deserves to be included in the Church. It is also notable that nearly every image of this subject from this period does include very small children, babes in arms, among the recipients of Christ's blessing and frequently interacting with Him. This is very different from the earlier images, which included only older children.
This reasoning may indeed be part of the intention behind these images, since the upsurge is so sudden and appears to correlate well with the developments of the Reformation/Counter-Reformation period. For example, it does appear to begin in Germany, spread to Holland and Flanders and from there to enter the Catholic world through Flanders and France. It does not appear to have been particularly popular in Italy or in Spain, the two greatest centers of Catholic culture in Europe during this period.
This reasoning may indeed be part of the intention behind these images, since the upsurge is so sudden and appears to correlate well with the developments of the Reformation/Counter-Reformation period. For example, it does appear to begin in Germany, spread to Holland and Flanders and from there to enter the Catholic world through Flanders and France. It does not appear to have been particularly popular in Italy or in Spain, the two greatest centers of Catholic culture in Europe during this period.
Artus Wolfaerts and Workshop, Christ Blessing Children Flemish, c.1600 Private Collection |
Jacob Jordaens, Christ Blessing Children Flemish, 1615-1616 St. Louis, MO, Saint Louis Art Museum |
Interestingly, a cursory study of the compositions of the works coming from this period indicates that a shift occurred around the turn into the seventeenth century. All the sixteenth-century works that I uncovered focus on the person of Jesus. He sits or stands near the center of every composition. After the year 1600, however, His position has been moved to one side, with the important exception of Rembrandt's most famous etching. This allows the artist to put the focus of the painting on the children and their mothers (and in two instances on the fathers as well).
Jesus is seen in profile or in shadow (the early Jacob Jordaens even shows Him from behind) and the individual faces and expressions of the children and their parents is what strikes our eyes first. In the case of the Ottawa Van Dyck and the de Bray from the Frans Halsmuseum these figures may well be actual portraits.
Jacob de Wet I, Christ Blessing Children Dutch, 1640-1672 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
Willem Jansz Verstraeten and Willem Isaacsz van Swanenburg Christ Blessing the Children on Delftware Dutch, c.1645-1660 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
Rembrandt, Christ Blessing the Chldren Called "The 100 Guilder Print" Dutch, c.1649 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
Sebastien Bourdon, Christ Blessing Children, French, 1650-1670 Paris, Musee du Louvre |
Nicolaes Maes, Christ Blessing Children Dutch, 1652 London, National Gallery |
Jacob Jordaens, Christ Blessing Children Flemish, 1660-1669 Copenhagen, National Gallery of Denmark |
Jan de Braij (Bray), Christ Blessing Children Dutch, 1663 Haarlem, Frans Halsmuseum Jan de Bray had obviously seen the painting by Van Dyck or perhaps drawings and/or prints made from it. |
Johannes Voorhout I Christ Blessing the Children Dollhouse Chimney Dutch, c. 1690-1710 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
It is also interesting that, by the end of the seventeenth century, this image had even found its way into the decoration of a luxury dollhouse, no doubt echoing the way in which it was also used in full sized ones.
This profusion of images appears to taper off somewhat at the end of the seventeenth century and, when it begins to pick up steam again, at the end of the eighteenth century, its spread is wider, embracing France and England as well as Germany and the Netherlands. It also begins to focus once more on a more central figure of Jesus.
Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier Christ Blessing Chldren French, 1783 Rouen, Musee des Beaux-Arts |
William Blake, Christ Blessing Children English, 1799 London, Tate Gallery |
Antoine Jean Joseph Ansiaux, Christ Blessing Children French, 1820 Versailles, Chateaux de Versailles et de Trianon |
During the nineteenth century the image becomes more sentimentalized than formerly, with just a few notable exceptions. Movements such as the Nazarenes among German artists and the Pre-Raphaelites in England contributed to a turning away from grand scenes, in favor of a simpler, "barebones" retelling. This in turn often led to sentimentalization. The process can be observed in the comparison of a drawing by the Nazarene artist, Johann Friedrich Overbeck and a mezzotint engraving made after it (or after a painting by Overbeck which is not available on the internet). The mezzotint could be printed in multiple copies, making it available to a wider public than those who could have seen either the drawing or a finished painting. It could, thus, serve as a easy aid to future compositions as well as a guide to the public as to what such a picture should look like. Since it shows a placid, vaguely classical scene this could lead quite easily to a growing sentimentality.
Johann Friedrich Overbeck Christ Blessing Children, Drawing German, 1824-1835 Paris, Musee du Louvre |
Mezzotint after Johan Friedrich Overbeck After 1830 London, British Museum |
Hippolyte Flandrin, Christ Blessing Children French, 1836-1838 Lisieux, Musee d'At et d'Histoire |
Benjamin Haydon, Christ Blessing Chldren English, 1837 Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery |
Charles Locke Eastlake, Christ Blessing Children English, 1839 Manchester, Manchester City Galleries |
Cornelis Kruseman, Christ Blessing Children Drawing Dutch, 1840 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
Richard Cockle Lucas, Christ Blessing Children Ivory English, 1840-1863 London, Victoria and Albert Museum |
Fritz von Uhde, Christ Blessing Chldren German, 1885 Greifswald, Pomerania State Museum |
James Tissot, Christ Blessing Children French, 1886-1896 New York, Brooklyn Museum |
With these few exceptions, the image had become totally sentimental by the turn of the twentieth century and continues to be so to this day (just Google images for the words “suffer the little children” or “let the children come to me”). There is one notable exception and this is the 1945 expressionist painting by Georges Roualt.
Georges Roualt, Christ Blessing Children French, 1945 Paris, Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou |
© M. Duffy, 2016
_________________________________________________________
1. See Kibish, Christine
Ozarowska. “Lucas Cranach's Christ
Blessing the Children: A Problem of Lutheran Iconography”, The Art Bulletin,
Vol. 37, No. 3 (Sep., 1955), pp. 196-203.
She lists the traces of other works from the first and early second millennia,
but none survive in clear form.
2. See also, Kuhn, Charles L. “The Mairhauser Epitaph: An Example of Late
Sixteenth-Century Lutheran Iconography”, The Art Bulletin, Vol. 58, No.
4 (Dec., 1976), pp. 542-546.
3. Anabaptist. 2016. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Retrieved 22 May, 2016, from http://www.britannica.com/topic/Anabaptists