Interiors by Design: Nursery and Children’s Areas
In the days before contraception and family planning, when infant and child mortality were very high, many families had many babies and younger children, even though few would be expected to survive to have their own children. Households that could afford the space were able to dedicate rooms to the children, and sometimes their sheer number required it. This week’s paintings of interiors afford a glimpse at those central to the world of the child.

In the country, local schools were often held in a dedicated room in or adjacent to the teacher’s house, as seen in this undated painting by one of Eduard Ritter’s circle. Brave Girls, Bad Boys, School Class in Tyrol was probably painted between 1835-1849, during the reign of Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria who is shown in one of its portraits. The children are enjoying a rich range of fruit, and there’s no shortage of paper, even if some is being used to make hats rather than for writing. Its elderly schoolmaster looks delightfully benign, and the stem on his smoking pipe is the longest I have ever seen.

Pierre Olivier Joseph Coomans’ Children most probably dates from the late 1860s, with the artist’s two daughters Diana (1861-1952) and Héva (1860-1939) at play in the dark corner of a room. One is taking a swing at her sister’s articulated wooden doll in an apparent bid to continue dismembering it, the other is seated on an animal skin. Coomans’ daughters and a son all became successful painters.

Giuseppe Sciuti’s marvellous depiction of The Joys of the Good Mother, also known as The Geography Lesson, from 1877, shows three children from a close-knit family. The baby is feeding at mother’s breast, while the oldest is learning to read with her, and (with the assistance of a nurse in traditional dress) the middle child is learning about their country, Italy.
Lawrence Alma-Tadema and his wife Laura Theresa were both accomplished painters, and took delight in painting their two daughters from his first marriage, Anna (1864-1940) who also became a fine painter, and Laurense (1865-1940) who was a prolific novelist and poet.

Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema’s early painting of The Tea Party shows her step-daughter Laurense playing peacefully with her dolls in a corner of the girls’ room. Its walls are decorated with her drawings, and a comic-like story that may have been drawn by her step-mother.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s double portrait This is Our Corner from 1873 shows Anna in front of Laurense in their bedroom.

William Merritt Chase was also devoted to his family, and painted his children frequently as they grew up. However, if his Children Playing Parlor Croquet is correctly dated to about 1888, it must show the daughters of others. These two girls have taken over a room to play the indoor version of this game, which was popular at the time.

In 1889, Fritz von Uhde and his family were living in an apartment in the city of Munich, Germany, that was large enough to provide their three young daughters with The Nursery. The woman seen knitting at the right is likely to be a nanny or relative, as the artist’s wife had died three years earlier.

Helen Allingham’s undated In the Nursery shows a young woman employed as a nurse to a middle-class family, in their dedicated nursery. The fire has a guard, which would have been unusual in rooms used by adults. On the mantelpiece are what appear to be fans, probably part of the Japonisme that swept Europe and America during the late nineteenth century. Rocking chairs remain popular for helping infants and young children to sleep, of course.

It’s not clear whether the rather barren room shown in Georgios Jakobides’ Children’s Concert from 1894 is dedicated to these children. Given the cacophony they’re making with their musical instruments, it seems unlikely that any adult would want to be within earshot of them.