Frank Bramley: For of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven (1891)

(Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand)

A painting by the English artist Frank Bramley (1857 – 1915). This piece shows a tragic event: the burial of a child. A group of four women, dressed in white, are carrying the coffin with the mourning parents at the rear. Several young girls are leading the procession, perhaps children of the parents. Amongst them is a girl with an unhealthy pallor who is holding ax expensive bouquet of chrysanthemums - it has been suggested that the girl is perhaps suffering from tuberculosis which could be the cause of death of the child. The group is watched by the local fishing folk. Painting from 1891.