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Dr Sophie Oosterwijk
Art historian, freelance lecturer, researcher, editor and translator

Lectures
Miniature adults? Images of childhood in western art
Reflection and illusion: the art of Jan van Eyck and his contemporaries
The fruits of sin: the art and times of Hieronymus Bosch
Peasant pastimes? The art of Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Art in miniature: illuminated books of hours in the late Middle Ages
Fit for a king: the art of Hans Holbein the Younger
Wine, women and song? Dutch genre painting by Vermeer and his contemporaries
Home, sweet home: the domestic interior in Dutch 17th-century painting
Merchants, matrons and mites: family life in Dutch 17th-century art
Jan Steen: a Dutch painter and storyteller in the seventeenth century
Rembrandt’s vision: Dutch history painting in the 17th century
Faces over time: Rembrandt’s portrait paintings
Tulips from Amsterdam: Dutch flower painting in the 17th century
Sparkling or still? Dutch still-life painting in the 17th century
Now you see me ... The history and mystery of cryptoportraits in European art
Love, marriage and fidelity in western art
Last Dance! The danse macabre in medieval and renaissance art
Birds, beasts and box: the art of topiary
Sinner or saint? The changing image of Mary Magdalene
Digging up the past: death, burial and commemoration
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam: Rembrandt's 'Night Watch' and much, much more

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Miniature adults? Images of childhood in western art

Looking at early child portraits we often see only miniature adults dressed stiffly in adult-like clothes. Yet what can portraits by artists such as Rembrandt or Velázquez really tell us about children in the past?

Recognizing the (artistic) conventions behind these images may help to discover more about childhood throughout history, and about social expectations.

This lecture (or study day) will challenge our preconceptions by showing how children were presented in art from Antiquity up to the present – and why.