William Powell Frith - Blessing the Little Children

[Blessing the little Children, an episode in the great annual procession of Our Lady of Boulogne] 1874

oil on canvas

In 1854 when the building of Notre Dame was near compleyion, the Abbot started an annual procession in which a statue of the Virgin Mary was carried through the streets. Frith first visited Boulogne on holiday in 1871 aand this picture, offered at Christie's in 2002, seems to be a replica of the one that Frith exhibited at the RA in 1874. To the right of the picture kneeling are Frith's two daughters Annabella and Jane. The Abbot is Abbe Toursel who served as a model.