the little St. John Baptist, cousin of Jesus, as a playmate of the holy child. Here are endless possibilities of story interest for a child’s delight. An effective contrast is made between the swarthy, skin-clad Baptist and the fair-haired Christ-child. The sturdy St. John is the most affectionate slave of his cousin, bringing offerings of fruit and flowers or kneeling in adoration. Raphael was particularly felicitous in this subject, and examples are numerous also among his contemporaries. Single ideal portraits of either of the two boys are not very common, but are treasures worth picking up when they are to be found. Andrea del Sarto’s St. John Baptist, the boy, is an exceptional picture, and a great favorite. Murillo’s so-called Children of the Shell is a delicately conceived subject of the relation between the two cousins. They have been playing together with the lamb, when St. John becomes thirsty, and the Christ-child offers him to drink from a shell.
The several striking incidents of the infancy of Jesus have all been very often illustrated, and form a series of delightful pictures of child life. The birth in the Bethlehem manger, the visit of the shepherds to the newborn babe, the coming of the wise men with their Oriental gifts, the presentation of the babe in the Temple, the flight into Egypt, and the visit of the twelve-year-old boy in the Temple, have been made vivid by the art of many centuries. In choosing such pictures we must be careful to see that artistic beauty is united with good illustrative quality. It must be understood that none of the great painters of
