Portrait of Ela with a basket 1883

Hans Thoma painted this portrait of Ela with a basket sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It presents an interesting view of childhood and the cultural values that shape how we see it. The little girl, Ela, looks at us with an unsmiling, seemingly adult gaze that might feel rather strange to contemporary viewers. At the time this portrait was painted, art academies throughout Europe were solidifying conventions around realism and portraiture. Artists were seeking to depict their subjects in a way that captured a likeness and a sense of their personality, and in this case, Ela is presented as a serious individual. We can also consider how new social theories influenced how children were viewed and represented. Was Thoma trying to show a child’s inner psychology? To explore this further we might look at other portraits by Thoma, alongside studies of childhood in the Germany of his time. Art always exists in a social and institutional context, so let's keep digging.