Christmas Prayers (Henry Bacon)

“Christmas Prayers,” Henry Bacon, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Isn’t this painting fantastic? I saw it when doing an image search and just had to share it with you. There is a lot to like about this image, but do you know what I like most? It’s that little fellow turning to look at the artist capturing the moment in a painting. It just makes the image look so real and unstaged, doesn’t it?

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Over the course of the two and a half weeks that Darcy had stayed at Netherfield before departing to collect his sister, Bingley had insisted that they call on so many of the neighbours as was possible so that one and all could see that Darcy was not the cold and uncaring person Wickham had touted him to be. He had also insisted that Darcy be seen in Meryton twice with Elizabeth – once in a carriage and once while walking the streets and visiting the shops.

And then, there had been church, where, each Sunday, Darcy had sat with Bingley, but, immediately upon completion of the service, had sought out Miss Elizabeth. Bingley wished he could take credit for that action as it had set several tongues to wagging immediately, but he could not. That was entirely Darcy’s doing.

from Mr. Bingley Plans a Ball

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Leenie Brown

Leenie Brown fell in love with Jane Austen's works when she first read Sense and Sensibility followed immediately by Pride and Prejudice in her early teens. As the second of five daughters and an avid reader, she has always loved to see where her imagination takes her and to play with and write about the characters she meets along the way. In 2013, these two loves collided when she stumbled upon the world of Jane Austen Fan Fiction. A year later, in 2014, she began writing her own Austen-inspired stories and began publishing them in 2015. Leenie lives in Nova Scotia, Canada with her two teenage boys and her very own Mr. Brown (a wonderful mix of all the best of Darcy, Bingley and Edmund with healthy dose of the teasing Mr. Tillney and just a dash of the scolding Mr. Knightley).

11 thoughts on “Christmas Prayers (Henry Bacon)”

  1. The little boy is cute, but the thing that struck me was the The gentleman in the forefront. He is so intent on his prayers. His head and shoulders are bowed like he feels the weight of responsibility carried by a patriarch in his time. I love the reverence he shows.

  2. I agree with both of you. How many times have I been nudged by mom’s elbow because I didn’t have my head bowed? LOL! Also, that gentleman. Indeed he has the weight of something on his shoulders that he is taking to the Lord. At first, I thought he might be a father praying for his family, but decided he might be too young. Then, I thought about him being Darcy praying for the lost opportunity for happiness and seeking peace, comfort, and solace from the heavens. Poor man. Then I noticed the young lady beside or near… which ever it is… she is checking him out. Either she is a betrothed or wishes she was and is perhaps thinking… ‘aah, a man that prays. That is for me.’ The artist has captured so much. Thanks for sharing this with us. Blessings, Leenie. Stay safe and healthy.

    1. I had an after thought… he young lady is Georgiana looking at her brother and wondering what has him so troubled. That works, too. LOL! Look what you have started.

      1. That does work, too. I agree that gentleman is certainly serious about whatever he is praying about. Something surely does seem to be troubling him. I shared a few thoughts about him in my reply to Michelle (I was replying from the bottom up 🙂 ), so I won’t repeat them here. But his story is one that would be wonderful to know. I also thought the young woman’s expression there might be one of “Hmm, he came to church? That’s unusual.” LOL

  3. It is a fantastic painting. I see what you all are saying about the little boy, the man in the foreground and the lady next to him in blue. I don’t know when this became ‘a thing,’ and I’m not going to look it up but the man’s cane looks very white and longer than an average cane, and it’s an odd place to place a gentleman’s hat.

    Going with the Christmas theme I enjoyed the Faith, Hope, and Charity symbols created in greenery roping at the top of the picture. And that led me to notice the people up there in ‘the gallery.’ One gentleman looks like he’s struggling to stay away and the other man looks like he’s writing something. Maybe he’s taking notes from the sermon for his own divinity studies. I liked this one tremendously.

    1. I just love how this painting is not just of everyone with their heads bowed in reverence but has those who are doing other things just as you would see in ‘real’ life. The artist lived from 1839 – 1912 so the cane had to be a thing somewhere in that range I would assume.

      That gentleman and lady in the blue at the back fascinate me. I wonder if he came in late so he put his walking stick and hat there rather than elsewhere? Is the lady in blue wondering about the man beside her and that’s why she’s looking that direction? Did he slide in and interrupt her concentration? Does he only have one knee on the pillow because his other leg has something wrong with it? That could be what has caught Miss Blue’s attention. That could also explain why his hat and cane are so close to him. So many interesting little details to make you wonder about their stories.

      1. I noticed his knees too. On closer inspection I’m still bewildered, I almost thought his leg was missing below the knee on the left side but then he would need a crutch not a cane. I don’t know but it does really make you look and look, or at least it made me look. I like this more and more as I look at it.

        I saw some brief blurb that said this was his most famous painting. But I could find no story behind it.

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