Children in painting

Before the eighteenth century children appeared in paintings only in family portraits where they were usually depicted no differently from the adults (rather more sympathetic early representations of children can be found in the portrait of the exiled Sir Edward Hales & his Family by Sir Peter Lely c1656.) As the eighteenth century progressed and perceptions of childhood changed, children began to be treated more as individuals and were often shown at play or engaged in other childhood pursuits.
Landscape and domestic genre subjects which included children were enormously popular during the nineteenth century and especially during the reign of Queen Victoria, but the ways in which they were depicted did not necessarily reflect the true conditions of life for many thousands of children throughout the period.
The pictures in this selection were painted between 1816 and 1877.