The Children's Book of Celebrated Pictures

Part 1

THE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF CELEBRATED PICTURES

LORINDA MUNSON BRYANT

Author of "Famous Pictures of Real Boys and Girls," "Famous Pictures of Real Animals," etc.

Published by The Century Co. New York

Copyright, 1922, by The Century Co.

TO MY DAUGHTER

BERTHA COOKINGHAM BRYANT

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE PAGE

1. The Holy Family. Pintoricchio. Academy, Siena 3

2. The Valley Farm. Constable. National Gallery, London 5

3. Madonna and St. Jerome. Correggio. Parma Gallery, Italy 7

4. The Wood-Gatherers. Corot. Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D.C. 9

5. The Aurora. Guido Reni. Rospigliosi Palace, Rome 11

6. Singing Boys. Franz Hals. Cassel Gallery, Germany 13

7. St. Barbara. Palma Vecchio. Santa Maria Formosa, Venice 15

8. Charles I and His Horse. Van Dyck. Louvre, Paris 17

9. The Gale. Homer. Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts 19

10. Madonna del Gran' Duca. Raphael. Pitti Palace, Florence 21

11. Joan of Arc. Bastien-Lepage. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City 23

12. The Fates. Michael Angelo. Pitti Palace, Florence 25

13. Madonna of the Chair. Raphael. Pitti Palace, Florence 27

14. Wolf and Fox Hunt. Rubens. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City 29

15. The Night Watch. Rembrandt. Ryks Museum, Amsterdam 31

16. The Assumption. Titian. Academy, Venice 33

17. The Melon-Eaters. Murillo. Pinakothek, Munich 35

18. The Muses. Romano. Pitti Palace, Florence 37

19. "Come Abide with Us." Fra Angelico. San Marco, Florence 39

Part 2

20. The Supper at Emmaus. Rembrandt. Louvre, Paris 41

21. Children of Charles I. Van Dyck. Dresden Gallery 43

22. The Buttery. De Hooch. Ryks Museum, Amsterdam 45

23. Coronation of the Virgin. Botticelli. Uffizi Palace, Florence 47

24. The Wolf-Charmer. La Farge. City Art Museum, St. Louis 49

25. The Old Woman Cutting Her Nails. Rembrandt. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City 51

26. The Spinner. Maes. Ryks Museum, Amsterdam 53

27. St. George and the Dragon. Carpaccio. Church of San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice 55

28. The Grand Canal. Turner. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City 57

29. Song of the Lark. Breton. Art Institute, Chicago 59

30. The Holy Night. Correggio. Dresden Gallery 61

31. The Gleaners. Millet. Louvre, Paris 63

32. St. Cecilia. Raphael. Bologna, Italy 65

33. Helena Fourment and Her Son and Daughter. Rubens. Louvre, Paris 67

34. The Harp of the Winds. Martin. Metropolitan Museum of Art 69

35. The Tribute Money. Titian. Dresden Gallery 71

36. The Maids of Honor. Velasquez. Madrid Gallery, Spain 73

37. The Nymphs. Corot. Louvre, Paris 75

38. St. Francis Preaching to the Birds. Giotto. Upper Church, Assisi, Italy 77

39. The Governess. Chardin. Liechtenstein Gallery, Vienna 79

40. The Last Supper. Leonardo da Vinci. Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan 81

41. Sir Galahad. Watts. Eton College, England 83

42. The Duchess of Devonshire and Her Child. Reynolds. Royal Gallery, Windsor 85

43. St. Agnes and Her Lamb. Andrea del Sarto. Pisa Cathedral, Italy 87

44. Whistler's Mother. Whistler. Luxembourg, Paris 89

45. St. Christopher. Titian. Doges Palace, Venice 91

46. The Blue Boy. Gainsborough. Private Gallery, Henry Huntington, Los Angeles, California 93

47. The Sleeping Girl. Van der Meer. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City 95

Part 3

48. St. Anthony and the Christ-Child. Murillo. Museum of Seville, Spain 97

49. King Lear. Abbey. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City 99

50. Sunset in the Woods. Inness. Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D. C. 101

Dear Children:

The stories I am telling about the pictures and their painters in this book are gathered from many countries. Some of them belong to very early times when history was told to grown up people by story-tellers at banquets and in the homes, on the street corners and public halls. Some of the stories are legends and traditions that grew up with the beginnings of the Christian era. All of them are taken from authentic sources and many of them illustrate some natural law.

The artists who painted these pictures knew history and the early myths, the fairy-tales, the legends and the traditions, the Bible and the Apocrypha. We love these pictures because they are beautiful and true, but really to understand them we must know what the artists had in mind when they painted them.

If you learn to know these pictures and love them, I will make you another book soon about statues and their stories.

With love and best wishes, from your friend,

LORINDA MUNSON BRYANT

THE HOLY FAMILY

BERNARDINO PINTORICCHIO (1454-1513)

In looking at pictures of the old masters you will often see one called the "Holy Family." I want you to know who belonged to the Holy Family. The grown people are Joseph and Mary, the father and mother of Jesus; they had no last names at that time. The children are Jesus and his cousin, John the Baptist, six months older than Jesus. Sometimes the little John's mother, Elizabeth, is in the picture and sometimes his father, Zacharias, is there also.

In this picture painted by Pintoricchio, Jesus is about four years old and John four and a half. The Bible story gives very little about the growing up of these children. Of Jesus it says, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him." And of John it says, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and he was in the deserts till the day of showing unto Israel."

One story from a very old book, "The Infancy," tells about Jesus playing with the other boys. It says:

"And when Jesus was seven years of age, he was on a certain day with other boys, his companions about the same age. Who when they were at play, made clay into several shapes, namely, asses, oxen, birds, and other figures, each boasting of his work, endeavoring to exceed the rest.

"Then the Lord Jesus said to the boys, I will command these figures which I have made to walk. And immediately they moved, and when he commanded them to return they returned. He also made figures of birds and sparrows, which, when he commanded to fly, did fly, and when he commanded to stand still, did stand still; and if he gave them meat and drink, they did eat and drink."

FIG. 1. THE HOLY FAMILY. PINTORICCHIO. ACADEMY, SIENA]

THE VALLEY FARM

JOHN CONSTABLE (1776-1837)

An old man, eighty-four years of age, lived in this house on "The Valley Farm," in England. He was born here and he used to say that he had never been away from this house but four days in all his life. He asked Constable to come and paint a picture of his home. And what a beautiful picture it is! The old house, snuggled down so close to the little stream, could paddle its feet--if it had any--in the cool water. And see how tenderly the tall trees keep guard over it. How we wish that we could be there too! If only we could be in the punt--I am sure it is a punt-boat even if one end of it is pointed--and be rowed up and down in the delightful shade. Those two in the boat have no doubt been for the cows and are driving them home to be milked.

John Constable liked to choose his subjects for his pictures from the familiar scenes near his home. He used to say to his friends:

"I have always succeeded best with my native scenes. They have always charmed me, and I hope they always will."

THE MADONNA AND CHILD WITH ST. JEROME

ANTONIO ALLEGRI DA CORREGGIO (1494?-1534)

Correggio loved to paint darling babies, lovely angels, beautiful women and splendid men. In this picture of "the Madonna and St. Jerome," I want you specially to see St. Jerome and his lion. St. Jerome, a very noted man who lived four centuries after Christ, was the first person to translate the New Testament into Latin. It was called "The Vulgate," because of its common use in the Latin Church.

When St. Jerome was thirty years old he went away from the city of Rome and became a hermit and lived in desert places in the East. One day, so the story goes, as he sat at the gate of the monastery a lion came up limping as though he had been hurt. The other hermits ran away but St. Jerome went to meet the lion. The lion lifted up his paw and St. Jerome found a thorn in his foot. He took out the thorn and bound up the poor paw, so the lion stayed with St. Jerome and kept guard over an ass that brought the wood from the forest.

One day when the lion was asleep a caravan of merchants came along and stole the ass. The poor ashamed lion hung his head before the saint, and Jerome thought he had killed and eaten the ass. To punish him St. Jerome had him do the work of the ass and bring the wood from the forest. One day some time afterward the lion saw the ass coming down the road leading a caravan of camels. The Arabs often have an ass lead the camels. The lion knew that it was the stolen ass, so he led the caravan into the convent grounds. The merchant found that he was caught. St. Jerome was very glad to find that his lion was honest and true. Whenever you see a picture of a saint with a lion you must remember that it is St. Jerome, the great Latin scholar.

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