Page:How to show pictures to children (IA howtoshowpictur00hurl).pdf/142

 the classified descriptive list at the close of this chapter will help mothers and teachers to make wise selections. The pictures referred to have been tested by much practical experience and found attractive and interesting to children.

Technically the picture of a child is a far more difficult achievement than that of an adult. When the Italian primitives were struggling with the problems of the human figure they represented children as miniature grown-ups. The Christ-child in the arms of his mother, as old Cimabue and Giotto painted him, is a good deal like a doll. The real live baby was not born into the world of art till a much later date. Indeed, the very young baby has never been a common art subject, for the painter has naturally preferred the more attractive stages of childhood.

An inexhaustible storehouse of child pictures, as all the world knows, is that vast body of works to which we apply the Italian name “Madonna,” because it was in Italy that the subject had complete historical development. It represents Mary, the mother of Jesus, with the Christ-child in her arms, and was the first artistic effort of the Christian era to portray childhood. The theme makes an instantaneous appeal to children of all ages, and will never outgrow popular favor. In making selections for our children, we do well to avoid the archaic paintings of the early centuries and all the more formal altar pieces, looking first for the elements of human interest and childish affection. The simplest compositions are best. From the great Renaissance Italians the best beloved mas-