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Death Crowning Innocence
George Frederic Watts RA (1817-1904)
1896
Source: Hare, Watts
Tate Galley, London
Hare's caption: "A little child lying in the lap of the winged figure of Death. Death, ever to Watts a silent angel of pity, "takes charge of Innocence, placing it beyond the reach of evil."
This painting, in some ways a representative Victorian work, must be seen in the context of thse high infant and child mortality of the period. Like George MacDonald's At the Back of the North Wind, Charles Kingsley's Water Babies, and Holman Hunt's The Triumph of the Innocents, it offers comfort and reassurance to both parents and children [GPL].
Text and formatting by George P. Landow