3-034-886 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Anniversary," by F. Huard, in the French Gallery, 1871. Engraving of a painting of child mourners: '...a young boy-knight, arrived at an age when he must soon enter actively on the duties of his station and most needs a father's guidance, with his little sister, to whom none can supply the place of a mother, but whom he must tend and protect as best he may for many long years to come. They are orphans it is evident, for two mortuary memorials lie on the cold altar-tomb. The anniversary they celebrate with purest tears and prayers of youth and childhood is that of the death of a loved parent, the last that was left to them we may suppose. To perform the sacred rites of sorrowing love they have sought the family sanctuary, the secluded chapel, where repose the ashes of their ancestors. Many of us have felt a grief like theirs, and few who have had that bitter experience will fail to find that the painter's representation touches a sympathetic chord of chastening sorrow. The costumes are Spanish, and indicate the nationality of the painter. F. Huard'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.