New worlds for children in the eighteenth century: problems of historical interpretation

The Nature of Childhood through History Revealed in Artworks?

“…Following Jordanova (1990), we can never take for granted the independent 'reality' of whatever it is that a painting depicts. The difficulties in using art for psychohistorical inference is a component of this wider debate.…”

“…Often what (little) artworks show of social reality conflicts with other historical and more factually reliable evidence (Haskell, 1988). Jordanova (1990) recommends supplementing Ariès' selection (pictures, toys, games, costumes, diaries, autobiographies and educational materials) with information about household organization, the family economy, gender and occupational stratification and its relation with other forms of hierarchy in the period. An obvious solution is to use as wide a range of evidence as possible, as indeed Schama for example does.…”

“…Even if Ariès is taking into account all the available evidence, his inference that the idea of childhood did not exist in medieval society can be questioned. As Jordanova (1990) points out, a lack of evidence ('silences') needs to be interpreted as carefully as statements. This example shows that a lack of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence.…”

Philippe Ariès’s ‘discovery of childhood’: imagery and historical evidence

“…We do certainly have to pay attention to a myriad of specific issues, such as the technologies of artistic production, the nature of patronage and the consumption of works of art -what Ludmilla Jordanova has described as "the processes through which representations come into existence". 50 But those very processes can themselves be the subject of historical attention. Mediation should not be seen as something to work through: a barrier between the historian and the nugget of evidence on the far side of the picture.…”

“…95 To quote Jordanova again: "Our capacity to sentimentalize, identify with, project on to, and reify childhood is almost infinite." 96 Pointon has also noted the temptation and tendency for scholars to shift into the present tense when describing the charms of Reynolds"s children, and I did not avoid the trap when writing about Master Crewe, above. 97 Such projection, such visceral response, can mislead us into thinking that our engagement with childhood constitutes realisation of a "truth", and the consequent deduction that this was a "truth" first appreciated in the eighteenth century.…”