Page of The Hlsenbeck Children by RUNGE, Philipp Otto in the Web Gallery of Art, a searchable image collection and database of European paintings and sculptures (1100-1850)

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The Hlsenbeck Children

1805-06
Oil on canvas, 131,5 x 143,5 cm
Kunsthalle, Hamburg

Runge sets the three children in relationship to the flowers in this painting. The children are matched by the three sunflowers on the left. The thickness of the stem reflects the different ages of the children, and the turning bodies and positions of the heads also correspond. The smallest flower, which is not quite open, is supported by the leaves of the other two, and the boy walking to the viewer's right has a counterpart in the flower facing right , while the eldest child, who is looking back, has an analogy in the flower on the left. The system of analogies is continued in the rest of the painting.