The picture reproduced above, entitled "Flower of the Heath," by the
German painter, Schwentzen, is another delightful study. It is that
of a child wandering alone over a flowery plain--or not quite alone,
for she is accompanied by a shaggy terrier, who carries in his mouth a
basket, from which protrudes a bottle. That bottle, as often happens
with accessories of a picture which may seem quite unimportant at first
sight, is not there for nothing. It tells, or at least elucidates,
the story of the picture. The little girl has been the bearer of her
father's dinner, and is returning through the flowering heather,
filling her apron with blossoms as she goes. The whole picture--sunny
landscape, flowers, dog, and child--is full of delicate power and
subtle charm.
The three child-heads in the medallions above given must not be passed
without a word of notice. The upper one is by Gainsborough, and a more
winsome and delightful little face it is impossible to imagine. That
on the right is from the same picture--the two children being named
respectively Habbenal and Ganderetta. The head in the medallion on
the left-hand side is from the portrait of James, the young Earl of
Salisbury, by Kneller.
We come now to a picture full of pathetic meaning--"Tired Gleaners"--by
our well-known English painter, Mr. Fred Morgan. They look so poor and
sad, these pretty little girls, who have at the very outset of life
already known so much of its hardship. The elder one has a mother's
instinct of kindly care for the weaker little sister; her face
expresses the self-forgetting resignation of a life filled with love
for others. The little one, more beautiful than the elder sister, is
one of those beings who are in all stations of life predestined to
be loved and cared for. A whole touching life-story is in these two
children's faces--beautiful but sad.
[Illustration: "TIRED GLEANERS."
_From the Painting by Fred Morgan._