Jesus 'suffers the children to come unto him'. Engraving by C.E.C. Hess, 1812, after a painting attributed to N. Maes.

Represents saying of Christ : Suffer the little children to come unto me

The child being blessed has a small placard tied around its shoulder; it holds an apple in its hand

Bible. N.T. Matthew 19.13-15; Mark 10.13-15; Luke 18.15-18. This episode was extremely rare in art of the middle ages. The theme begins in the Reformation, possibly owing to the acceptance of marriage among protestant pastors (Louis Réau, 'Iconographie de l'art chrétien', Paris 1957, vol. 2, p. 329)

Mannheim : chez Dom. Artaria, 1812.

1 print : line engraving with etching ; platemark 52.7 x 38.7 cm

Sinite parvulos venire ad me tulium enim est regnum dei. Dédié a son excellence monsieur le comte François de Schönborn. Par son très humble et très obeïssant serviteur Dom. Artaria ... Lettering continues: "Le tableau original se trouve dans la galerie de S.E. Mons: le comte franc: de Schönborn à Vienne. Rembrandt pinxt. C: Hess sculpt."

The painting has been attributed to eight different pupils of Rembrandt and to Rembrandt himself; it is currently (1998) attributed by the National Gallery to Nicolaes Maes

G.K. Nagler, Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon, Munich: E.A. Fleischmann, 1835-1852, vol. 6 p. 144 ("Christus segnet die Kleinen: Sinite parvulos venire ad me, nach Rembrandt , gr. fol. Gegenstück zum Christus im Tempel , nach G. Honthorst.")

C. Brown, National Gallery catalogues: the Dutch school, London 1991, vol. 1, no. 757, pp. 242-245

Wellcome Collection 22791i

After: a painting bought by the National Gallery, London, in 1866