The painting depicts a family of acrobats in which the child has suffered a fatal injury while performing, it shows his mother comforting him while he dies and his father looks on in despair.
“…he is dying. I wished to depict the tardy awakening of nature in those two hardened almost brutalized beings. To gain money they have killed their child and in killing him they have found out that they had hearts…”
– Doré said of the work
Gustave Doré’s carefully orchestrated painting unveils a heart-wrenching scene: a mother cradling her son, who is bleeding from a head injury. The stark contrast of red against the boy’s pallid skin accentuates the agony depicted by his slightly parted lips and furrowed brows.
The atmosphere is hushed, punctuated only by the subdued gasps escaping the child’s mouth. Onlookers in the crowd appear curious about the unfolding events, while the animals sit in a manner that suggests an understanding of the situation.
The most poignant element of the painting lies in the realization and guilt etched across the parents’ faces. The mother, with tightly shut eyes and tears streaming down her face, attempts to comfort her son, as if to alleviate his pain and, perhaps, to absolve herself of any wrongdoing. The father, dressed in full circus attire, bears the weight of responsibility for his son’s injury, gazing at the child with a look of utter hopelessness. His slouched posture fails to conceal the self-blame he carries.
Yet, despite the desperate attempts at solace, the tragedy remains irreparable.
Doré intensifies the catastrophic nature of the scene by strategically placing a set of cards at the mother’s feet. Notably, the ‘ace of spades’ aligns with her left foot—an ominous symbol associated with imminent death. This detail implies that the mother may have been aware of the risks but compelled her child to perform nonetheless. The owl perched beside her further emphasizes the lack of wisdom and judgment in the parents’ actions.
As the tragic event unfolds on the canvas, the weight of parental responsibility becomes palpable. The scattered circus paraphernalia strewn across the painting serves as a visual metaphor, accentuating the burden of the unfolding disaster. Doré masterfully captures the complexity of human emotions and choices, inviting viewers to reflect on the profound consequences of actions taken in the pursuit of entertainment.
In this second painting, Gustave Doré painted a really sad picture. In it, a child is not alive, there are no animals around, the cards are missing, and the father looks like a scary underworld creature—a kind of demon. Doré usually uses symbols in his paintings, but this time he lets the family’s feelings tell the story without all that.
In another painting, Doré showed the Virgin Mary in a blue and gold dress with stars. But in this sad painting, he changes things. The child is in a pink dress, like they’re between morning and night.
Doré had a personal connection to the story. He used to be an acrobat and loved watching street performers. The painting was inspired by a really sad story in the newspapers. Doré didn’t just make one painting; he made two, putting all his feelings into trying to capture the moment when grief is too much to bear.
In this special artwork, Doré helps us feel the simple emotions of loss. The painting makes us think about how everyone goes through tough times, and Doré tried to show that with a lot of care and understanding.
Reference:
Greer, M. (2009) Reading the Story in a Picture –Doré’s Saltimbanques. WordPress. Retrieved from https://marykgreer.com/2009/07/21/reading-the-story-in-a-picture-dores-saltimbanques/
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