Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (ca. 1553–1608). The Infantes Don Felipe and Doña Ana, 1607. Oil on canvas, 118 x 124 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Gemäldegalerie

The status of children and the concept of childhood have changed over the centuries. Children have at various times been considered playthings, moppets, and even dwarfed adults. Even the notion of childhood as a distinct phase of life is a relatively recent event. Until the end of the Middle Ages, childhood ended at age seven, the age at which the Catholic Church declared children could distinguish right from wrong. From that age on, they were regarded as small adults, who mingled, competed, worked, and played with mature adults. Gradually, society began to see childhood as a separate developmental stage that should be dedicated to education and preparation for living in the adult world. The ideas of Swiss-French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) introduced the idea that children are full human beings, with needs, feelings, dignity, and rights of their own. The concept of childhood as both a social structure and a psychological condition has since been refined and continues to evolve.

In eighteenth-century Europe, children began to dress differently than adults. They had their own activities and were seen to have their own ways of thinking and learning. Life for middle-class children changed more rapidly than it did for poor children, who were made to work long hours, often in dangerous factories and mines. By the nineteenth century, the governments took on the role of protecting children, passing child labor laws and setting up schools to provide education.

Art provides a visual record of this evolution. Whereas children had previously been portrayed as uncivilized and brutish, following Rousseau’s assertion of the natural goodness and innocence of childhood Western art produced countless images proclaiming the charm and sweetness of children. Only occasionally were gifted artists able to set aside clichés and explore the grace and dignity of individual children.

About the works

In 1588, Juan Pantoja de la Cruz became court painter to Philip II and continued in this role after Philip III ascended to the throne in 1598. Pantoja de la Cruz was primarily a portrait painter to the royal family and other aristocrats. He painted clothing and jewels with precision and minute detail. In his best works, he introduced an impressive sophistication achieved by means of powerful contrasts of light and shadow. It is only in his treatment of these youthful faces that a glint of childhood is revealed. The portraits of royal children were commissioned not only to record the development of younger members of the family and as a testament to parental love, but also from the need to formalize future marriages between ruling families.

Between 1600 and 1607, Pantoja de la Cruz painted sixty-six portraits of thirty-nine different members of the royal family. In this work, we see his portrait of Don Felipe, the future King Philip IV, and his older sister, Doña Ana. Even though the subjects are both quite young and Don Felipe is supported by a luxuriously padded walker, they possess the self-control and formal bearing seen in portraiture of adults at court. Years later, Pantoja de la Cruz would paint Philip IV’s official royal portrait.

This is not an image of children, but of heirs to the Spanish throne, destined to rule. Portraits of royal children such as this depict miniaturized adults decked out in elegant clothing and assuming formal poses. These were small but legitimate aristocrats, and even their childhood portraits projected them as possessing the sober traits associated with their future role as leaders.

Pablo Picasso’s paintings of children date to two great spans of time: from his early years until he was about twenty-five, and from the start of his fatherhood through full maturity, between the ages of forty and seventy. Picasso painted these pictures for his own pleasure: they were part of the intimate personal collection that he named his “Family Gallery.”

Picasso was already well into his sixties when his son Claude and daughter Paloma were born. He carefully observed them as they went about their daily routines, eating, sleeping, and playing. Their childhood was searched and scanned and transformed into art, much as a scientist might study an amoeba under a microscope for a clearer understanding of the origin of life. Rarely has childhood been so explored on canvas.

Picasso was a revolutionary painter who overturned the most widely accepted traditions and practices of art. At the same time, however, he always paid great attention to art history, studying works from the past and taking from them elements that could help him develop his own perceptions. For all Picasso’s immensely fertile and original mind, he also came back to refresh himself at the wellsprings of tradition. In his earlier paintings, his interest in the old masters is evident mostly in the stylistic effects he borrowed from them and then incorporated into his own work in a completely original way. After 1950, he began a more direct dialogue with the painters of some of the most famous works in the history of art. Using his own style, he painted variations on works by earlier Spanish artists. While on the one hand he was paying homage to past art, on the other he was taking possession of this legacy and imposing on it his own unmistakable style.

• What can you tell about the children in these two works by looking carefully at the paintings? Are they older, younger, or about the same age as you? How can you tell?
• What questions would you ask these children about the life they lead? If they could speak to us, what might they say? Do the children in these two paintings have similar or very different things to tell us?
• How does their clothing style differ from fashions we see today? Describe what you think their average day is like.
• What details does the artist include to help us get a sense of their surroundings and the times in which they live?
• Although similar in composition and subject matter, these two paintings offer very different views of and attitudes toward childhood. List the traits that each of the children might possess. How have the artists suggested these individual qualities?
• One painting is an official portrait, the other is a father’s painting of his own children. How does each artist suggest his relationship to the children in these paintings?

• Find some photographs of yourself in various stages of childhood. Can you remember when these photographs were taken? Was it a special occasion or an ordinary day? Do you remember the outfit you were wearing and what you were thinking at the time? Select a single photo of yourself from your childhood. Write an essay that provides a description of everything you associate with this photo. How much of this description is evident in the photo? How much would be unknown unless disclosed by the subject?
  English / Language Arts


• Most of us have more pictures of ourselves as young children than we do as we get older. Why do we make portraits of children? What varied purposes do they serve?
  Social Studies


• If you have siblings (brothers and/or sisters or even cousins) consider how you might create a group portrait. How would you pose yourself along with them. What would you wear? What objects would you include? In what environment would you place the group?
  Visual Arts


• How do we think about and treat children today? What role do they have within contemporary society? What societial forces have contributed to these changes?
  Social Studies