Oil on canvas “Family portrait”, 10 faces and as many stories to invent and reinvent.
Ideas and concepts about childhood have varied greatly over time. There are few accounts of how children were raised and even fewer of their feelings and quality of life before the 17th century. It was not until the 1750s that the family unit became a place of intimacy and began to be organized around children by ensuring their early education. Interest in children progressed significantly during the 18th century: the nuclear family (parents plus children) became the basic unit of society and encouraged this evolution. Greater attention was given to the education and health of children (in the wealthy classes), under the leadership of authors such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau who published Émile ou de l’education in 1762.
In the 18th century, the children of the aristocracy were still raised by wet nurses but the bourgeoisie began to look after their children and family portraits with children abound where we perceive through the proximity and the attitude of the bodies, the tenderness and affection. We feel that the role of the couple becomes preponderant and that the educated child becomes more the child of his parents than of his lineage.
18th century
Austria
Height: 110 cm
Width: 81 cm
