Someone found this in an antique store and I couldn't resist it. What can you tell me about this picture? What emotions does it bring to you?
There are still some people who remember scenes such as this. I received an email not long ago saying that the kind of life exhibited in such pictures was just a dream world and we could never go back. What do you think? Maybe if posters like this could be found on the poster rack in stores, people would have worthy goals toward which to work. Teens would have pictures with real heroes in them, and things to dream about that would build their lives instead of sending them into despair.
16 comments:
Life can be like this but you have to switch off the television and shut down your computer.
Well this sounds like fun : ) It's a sweet picture. What draws me right away is the "mirroring"--the older daughter is just as kind and supportive to her brother as her mother is to her father, her mother has passed on her goodness and wisdom there. And even the youngest child seems to be following suit, in her kindness and support to her dog.
And all the women, as well as all the men, are content really. Not one person is sulking or competing in this lovely scene, nor is there any sense of detachment. I imagine they must know that in a sense as a family they are one and so one person's joy is another's joy, as well as one person's sorrow being another's sorrow.
If this family were painted in a sorrowful scene where one member had undergone tradgedy or despair, I would think it would show the same unity, and the same refreshing lack of detachment or apathy, there too.
Thank you for posting this sweet image : )
I spent hours and hours as a teen looking at such paintings. There was one in our church bathroom that had me completely captivated... They have truly shaped my imagination, ideals, and loves.
Just the sort of picture my husband & I love! This is just the type of thing I love to set before our children's eyes.
I believe the deepest emotions can be stirred, in such moments of simplicity & these help produce the most treasured of all memories.
It is sad that in many modern homes such moments are overlooked in the blur of a hurried life & the incessant background noise of the TV.
I pray I'll become more & more aware of the wonders that excite our children.
God bless,
Claire
It seems like a fantasy only found in books and movies. It has become a rarity in our society to see a family so united in peace.
I hope my husband and I can make our family so harmonious.
Katherine
What a lovely print! It looks like the whole family is enjoying a summer evening, maybe after supper. Everyone seems to be excited for the son, who has caught a fish. The father even put down his paper! The print is so different from our modern, "Don't worry about others" mentality.
It is a very lovely picture and very stirring to my heart. It enhances deep feelings of sorrow reminding me of the pain and brokenness of my own childhood experience. This lovely scene is what I dreamed long ago of having with my own husband and children, and many times strived to attain, but sadly, in many ways, have not realized.
It always makes me sad when people say it is only a dream. I grew up like this and so did many others. People all around us presented such scenes!
As a child of the baby boomer circle I sure remember scenes like in this picture and many more homey memories. I have heard those say June Cleaver and her like never existed but I remember and have pictures of my mother in dresses and pearls at picnics, or hanging out clothes. We never thought otherwise. She only had one pair of jeans and they were ONLY used when she was at home doing heavy cleaning on a ladder. We never went to town unless we were dressed approprately and for many years that included hats and gloves. This was not that long ago. My parents raised us like they were and my friends parents did likewise. Family was a big thing and that included extended family...if you did not have a natural extended family you adopted some older or unmarried or lonely people who could use a family and they became your family. You did for each other out of respect and courtesy..you were proud of your country, honored your family and reviered your schools name and tried to never tarnish the name of God or your church. Where did all this go?I never dreamed life would be otherwise now the whole world seems upside down and what was oh so right is now thought of as stupid and wrong. No!! They are wrong! This picture and those like it are meat for our collectiive concience that we can be people of integrity and love and fair play and such again. We were like that as a whole and if we turn from our selfishness and defeatism and give it a good try we can raise above and each do our part in our own way to make life what it should be....and Can be!I have decided to change some of the flower pictures in my home and bring in such immages myself for conversation starters and their beauty. Thankyou so much again for bringing this to our attention.
As I read your comment my eyes stung with tears and I felt the terrible regret that the enemy within has torn up our vision of the home and made a laughingstock of our families.
Yes we were proud of our families and it was a terrible breach of honor and a disloyal act to say anything bad about your family. We did what we could to save face, that the family might not be shamed.
A point in this case is an example here: I read in an old magazine about a house a couple moved in to. They had known the previous owner, a Victorian lady who had taken in ironing for a living. She had raised her own children and everyone assumed she was a widow.
After she died, the new owners (who probably would be alive today)restored the attic area of the house, and in doing so, took apart a wall in order to change the insulation or something. Inside that wall was a large framed photograph of a man, big enough to hang over a manel or on one wall.
The couple investigated the picture and found out it was the woman's husband, taken about the age of 27. They began to ask around to people who knew him to find out about it
What they heard was that the man was such a ne-er do well, as they used to call it,--that is, he came in late at night drunk, disappeared for weeks, was unreliable, wouldn't keep a job, and so forth. In the meantime, she had taken in house boarders and house guests in order to make a living.
He had in the snow one night,just outside the house, not having been able to get into the house because she had locked the doors.
No one talked about this man, because it was such a shame, and the didn't want it to reflect on this poor lady, who was doing her best.
She took his picture and put it inside the wall before it was boarded up. She apparently didn't want any reference to him or memory of him when the children were growing up.
The community kept their lips sealed also. Remember this was the Victorian era, a time when scandal in the family was kept quiet in order to prevent it from influencing...and so that the widow could hold up her head in public.
I always remembered this story because it was so different than now, when you have to broadcast every deviant detail of your life, and when children often talk about the parents in a derrogatory way. It was so different to read that at all costs, the family had to have respectability, and respectability meant morality. So if there had been a fall by someone in the family--such as an uncle who was a drunkard, etc. they would only talk about it in hushed tones, not over the air.
The point is that the family was like the queen and king of a country--you just honored it and wouldn't allow any thing to break it.
Please click on the picture for a larger view!
These are just the kind of pictures the modern artists of the 20th century tried to hide from the public, lest they give them any ideas of family grandeur!! Happily, many people are finding this art and printing it.
I have checked you out from the BoB nominations recently. I think that this is my first comment, but I've been enjoying getting to "know" you.
This picture made me think of a great quiet family moment. I didn't think that it was an impossible dream. They look like a real family. I love how the toddler is in her own world, and how the sister is quite impressed by big brother. And of course I love the dog.
I so agree that having these beautiful, inspiring pictures will give us good things to think about and reach for....
Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
Isn't that so wonderful!
That image is very inspiring to me. Right now I'm watching an episode of Dr. Phil about disrespectful children... I sure hope we can turn out more like this picture!
To be honest, this reminds me of my family. Both my family of origin and my husband and kids. Oftentimes in the summer you will find us relaxing on the porch watching the children play and be kids. It's heartening to see this picture. I am now flooded with memories both young and old.
Post a Comment