Thank you for that enlightning lesson. We can learn so much about a time period's perspective. The plague was also a factor in how art was created during that time period. Infant mortality was over 50%. Mothers and fathers could not get too attached to a child . Viewing the Christ child as a 'man child' gave the average person the idea that perhaps their deceased beloved child had perhaps had the opportunity to grow up in heaven. It gave the grieving parents emotional support in order to go on living.
debbie wrazen wrote:
Thank you for that enlightning lesson. We can learn so much about a time period's perspective. The plague was also a factor in how art was created during that time period. Infant mortality was over 50%. Mothers and fathers could not get too attached to a child . Viewing the Christ child as a 'man child' gave the average person the idea that perhaps their deceased beloved child had perhaps had the opportunity to grow up in heaven. It gave the grieving parents emotional support in order to go on living.
Thank you for that enlightning lesson. We can le... (
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This is an interesting concept debbie and the first time I've heard of this take on early art/children. Thanks for sharing this concept!
You're welcome. I had to take some liberal arts courses during college and so I took Art History for two semesters. Interesting that in the 21st century photographers capture babies sleeping in fetal positions among fruits and vegetables. It is a common experience for very pregnant women to be photographed in sheer gowns against a regal background now. They are so proud of their motherhood status with seemingly little fear. Good health care and plentiful sources of food allow mothers to feel confident in their survival and that of their infants. Even 60 years ago, childbirth had many risks.
n3eg
Loc: West coast USA
Some of those moms don't look too happy about their little demon babies either.
When most people see a baby, they always say "he's so cute". They have no hair and no teeth. I'm 69 and have little hair and no teeth but no one looks at me and says "how cute". I'm jealous!
Most interesting - thanks for the post!
n3eg wrote:
Some of those moms don't look too happy about their little demon babies either.
Did you see "Rosemary's Baby"? :D
My father made a sage observation regarding the new born:
The baby looks just like Eisenhower!
ole sarg wrote:
My father made a sage observation regarding the new born:
The baby looks just like Eisenhower!
I've also heard Churchill mentioned.
Wrangler wrote:
When most people see a baby, they always say "he's so cute". They have no hair and no teeth. I'm 69 and have little hair and no teeth but no one looks at me and says "how cute". I'm jealous!
ROFLMAO! I'm still cracking up. Thanks for a good-morning laugh.
BBurns
Loc: South Bay, California
Redd Foxx summed it up best years ago.
"Ugly kids come from ugly parents.
If you think I'm lying, follow an ugly kid home.
See if somebody ugly don't open the door for them!"
Floyd
Loc: Misplaced Texan in Florence, Alabama
BBurns wrote:
Redd Foxx summed it up best years ago.
"Ugly kids come from ugly parents.
If you think I'm lying, follow an ugly kid home.
See if somebody ugly don't open the door for them!"
Except to the immediate family, a newborn is ugly the first few hours out of the womb. Years ago our pastor, when confronted with a very newborn and rather than lie, he would comment, "Wow, that's some baby." I've used that line several time since.
BBurns
Loc: South Bay, California
debbie wrote: "Infant mortality was over 50%. Mothers and fathers could not get too attached to a child ."
I have heard that, unattributed, many times but my experience wandering through grave yards and cemeteries in New England (mainly) was to find elaborate and expensive monuments on the graves of newborn and stillborn children.
Attached (I hope) is a stone from Yarmouth on Cape Cod cut in slate after 1720, a not insubstantial expense in those days. The "Y" shaped letter with a superscript "e" between its arms in the bottom line is a "thorn" carrying the "th" sound and still used in Icelandic. "Ye" is a cute-sey affectation in modern use as "Ye olde Lantern Pub."
This stone is rare in having a thorn-t on the second line, "Children that ware .."
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