Throughout history, artists have created works that been influenced by the social, economic and political environments of the times. In some instances, the art movement has been so strong as to define an era. Art truly is a reflection of society. In this paper, I shall examine the Peale Family Group, painted in 1773 by Charles Wilson Peale and the 1674 painting, Madame Freake and Baby Mary. The two painting exemplify the culture of their respective periods, the Puritan era and that of the Enlightenment, by presenting two drastically different views of children during these time periods. During the Puritan times, Children were viewed as essentially evil beings, condemned by the original sin of Adam and Eve, however, during the period of Enlightenment, a mere century later, children were viewed as innocent and blissful gifts.
The Madame Freake and Baby Mary portrait offers a firsthand glimpse into how the Puritan society viewed children. The puritans, as a culture were very concerned with children. Believing in original sin, they felt that children were born evil, and might be wild and immoral if not highly disciplined. Baby Mary looks far older than her actual age in years, and is being held in a stiff, rigid position that is very hard to associate with childhood, but is consistent with the puritan's notions of needing to keep their youth strictly obedient. Baby Mary is also being held in a somewhat distant position from that of her mother. It seems, therefore, that the mother is, in effect, trying to distance herself from her "inherently evil" offspring. As discussed in lecture, there is little or no attempt to distinguish a stage of childhood in the way the baby is dressed, she is in effect a miniature representation of her mother. The puritans gave as many adult tasks and responsibilities to their children as possible and filled the remainder of their time with religious and moral instruction.