Children of the Sea

The Children of the Sea was painted by Joseph Israel when he was in Zandvoort, one of the major beaches of the Netherlands. It pained the painter to learn about the lives of fishermen who had big families and how they had to work hard to support them.

This painting is of a fisherman and how his children are playing in the shallow water and there is a toy boat that they have made to sail in the muddy water. The eldest son shoulders the responsibility of his younger siblings. The two sisters look like twins and the youngest one the brother is carrying her on his back. How much love and faith the baby girl has on her face and so much security she feels that her brother will take care of her. Out of the two girls, one is confident of herself that she can carry herself in the shallow water and the other girl has picked up a sea twig for herself but she is not so confident and holds the tattered shorts that her brother is wearing. She doesn’t feel quite comfortable walking on her own as perhaps she is aware of the waves that come up suddenly and sometimes throw the people.

The painter has taken the common man into deep showing the love and care of the elder brother. However, the words in the picture say that the children’s father and mother have a hard life. The fisherman has to face the competition in the market and if he is lucky gets his fish sold at a good price. Sometimes they have to go without enough food. The fisherman has a big family. Their worn-out and tattered clothes show their poverty. Also, they are happy with the toy boat which is made by themselves.

The painter has used soft colors. The sky is clear and blue but far at the back, there are grey clouds. As the water is shallow the waves have slowed down. here the water level looks the same. The boy is strong and affectionate. The painter wants to tell us about the strong bonding between the siblings. The boy’s responsibilities and love for his sisters.