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For of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven

Frank Bramley1891

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Auckland, New Zealand

For of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven presents child mortality as a grief common to all people, irrespective of wealth or class. Like the young middle-class women in the cortège, the little girl clutching the expensive bouquet of chrysanthemums wears a white dress almost certainly bought for such an occasion. Her unhealthy pallor suggests that Death may still be lurking in the wings. By contrast, the shabby sons and daughters of the local fishing folk are ruddy-cheeked and sturdy, reflecting their healthier outdoor life.

The title of this scene of a child’s funeral procession comes from the Gospel of Matthew (19: 14): ‘But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’

Based in Newlyn, Cornwall, Frank Bramley combined social realism with the new practice of painting out of doors. Bramley mines the Victorian fondness for heart-rending sentimentalism and fixation with social class, but presents his masterpiece in the naturalist mode then fashionable in European painting.

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  • Title: For of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven
  • Creator: Frank Bramley
  • Creator Lifespan: 1857/1915
  • Creator Nationality: Great Britain
  • Creator Gender: Male
  • Creator Death Place: Gloucestershire, England
  • Creator Birth Place: Lincolnshire, England
  • Date Created: 1891
  • Physical Dimensions: w2540 x h1829 mm (Without frame)
  • Artist biography: Frank Bramley was born in 1857. He was a Post-Impressionist painter of the Newlyn School who specialised in genre painting. Bramley studied at Lincoln School of Art from 1873 to 1878, and then in Antwerp from 1879 to 1882. Bramley regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1884 to 1912. He achieved much recognition when his painting ‘A Hopeless Dawn’ was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1888 and bought by the Chantry Bequest for the nation. He died in 1915.
  • Type: Painting
  • Rights: Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 1913
  • External Link: Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
  • Medium: oil on canvas
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

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