2-981-890 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Saying Grace" - from a picture by A. Neuhuys, in the exhibition of the New British Institution, 1876. Engraving of a painting. 'We have seldom seen a picture so truthful and touching in its homely pathos as this of a poor Dutch peasant interior, with its lowly occupants...We infer that this humble family circle consists of a grandmother and grandchildren only; perhaps the old dame is left bereaved of son or daughter with the offspring of the next generation to maintain unaided...how unfeignedly pious is the expression of that aged bowed head; and how sweetly reverential is the attitude of that simple, honest young girl! Not a whit less felicitous, appropriate, and true to nature is the contrast of the hungry little boy, too young yet to understand the import of "Saying Grace," whose fingers are already nibbling at the frugal fare contained in the dish, and whose face is beaming with pleasant anticipation'. From "Illustrated London News", 1876.