Early Modern (1450 CE - 1800 CE)
The Dance of Death
Children are not frequent subjects of medieval art, but the figure of the child does occur in a medieval artistic and literary form known as the Danse macabre or Dance of the Dead.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s "Children's Games"
Flemish painter, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, painted "Children's Games" in 1560. While many of his other paintings also portray peasant folk culture, this summer townscape that is devoid of adults is rich in detail about Medieval children—especially at play.
Joyous Celebration at the New Year
This image offers an artistic view of a household celebrating the New Year's holiday. Here we find children at play amidst a scene of domestic joy and prosperity for an elite family of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).
Los tres mulatos de Esmeraldas
This is a painting entitled “The Mulatto Gentlemen of Esmeraldas” from Spanish America. The painting was made in 1599 by a relatively well-known indigenous painter who was working in Quito at the time, a man named Andrés Sánchez Gallque.
Codex Mendoza
This image shows the front piece of the Codex Mendoza which is believed to have been commissioned by the first viceroy of New Spain, Don Antonio de Mendoza in the 1540 to record information about the Aztecs and their empire.
Analyzing Images
The modules in Methods present case studies that demonstrate how scholars interpret different kinds of historical evidence in world history.
