Page 16 - Expotime10_11_2017

Museums of the Mediterranean

The collections of children portraits is important for its range and quality, for its hidden iconographical meanings and its
cultural and social implications. Here are only a few examples. More on request from the Fundation.

complete collection with a didactic purpose. The theme, This selection enables us to follow the progression of a
which emerged as the collection took shape, was not just certain way of depicting children, as well as reflecting
an overview of portraits of children across the centuries the metamorphosis of clothing. There is a slow evolution
but a glimpse of the mysterious world of childhood. from an elegant austerity towards a frivolous exuberance.
th
From the 19 cent. onward, we can perceive a greater
These portraits, which form the core of the Nins collec- degree of expressiveness in the painting, a loosening-up
tion are from different countries and different epochs and which reflects the onset of a warmer more tender ap-
although, for the most part, they represent the sons and proach to infancy as a separate and vulnerable state.
daughters of important historical figures, there are also
images of children of more modest origins among them. Since so few examples of early children clothing have
survived intact, these portraits are of great documenta-
All have been selected according to the same criteria: the ry value. Clothes and costumes for children- more or less
biography prevailing over the anecdotal, where the art- the same for both boys and girls —although with subtle
ist’s driving impulse is to capture the identity of the sitter, variations— had their own characteristics and each ele-
whatever his particular talent, expertise or period. The ment corresponded to a particular moment of the child’s
first acquisition of the collection bought in 1972 was the development from infancy to adolescence. From being
Portrait of a Girl with Cherries (Inv. no. 28), a 19th cen- wrapped in swaddling clothes (Inv. no. 100), they grew
tury painting by Majorcan artist Joan Mestre. In this ex- into in long skirts with aprons and fake sleeves called
traordinary work, which perfectly expresses the mystery “dumb sleeves” which were used as braces or walkers
of childhood, the Spanish tradition of sobriety is wholly when the child was beginning to walk (Inv. no. 9). This
present; a sobriety and gravitas frequently lacking in other explains why in Spain, those in charge of the care of roy-
portraits of children of the same period. Gradually, over al children were called “sleeve employees”.
the decades, this collection as well as being a discourse
on childhood, underwent a gradual expansion, and began Boys and girls wore the same type of clothes and often
th
to focus more specifically on the 16 and 17 cent.; it now it is only possible to differentiate between them by the
th
also gives a representation of the different court portrai- earrings or a prettier hairdo worn by the latter. Colours
ture tendencies in Europe during four centuries. were never a feature of gender distinction: looking at
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EXPOTIME!, issue October / November 2017