Drie kinderen spelend met een vogelnestje 1718

Isaac Walraven painted this small oil on canvas of ‘Three Children playing with a Bird’s Nest’ sometime in the first half of the 18th century. It shows us how elite Dutch society liked to see itself. We see three children in a carefully arranged garden with classical architecture in the background. The children are richly dressed and although seemingly absorbed in their play with a bird’s nest, they are highly posed. We can compare this to other paintings of children playing with animals from the same time. Often, these are not straightforward depictions of reality, but rather moralizing allegories. In this case, we might see the bird’s nest as a symbol of the family, with the children as its protectors. To understand paintings like this, we can look at how children are represented in other media from the time, such as literature and educational texts. This gives us insight into the values and beliefs that shaped Dutch society and how art played a role in reinforcing those beliefs.