Innocence and Beauty: Children and Animals in Art (1700-1900)

An exhibition exploring how artists from 1700 to 1900 represented childhood and its relationship with the natural world.

Explore changing ideas of childhood through art from 1700 to 1900. The exhibition considers how children were once viewed as miniature adults and valued for their labour or social usefulness, and how later views came to see childhood as a distinct and precious stage associated with innocence, imagination and emotional growth.