About this print

Jesus With Children

Four children crowding around one man on a stone seat, and a small girl settled on his knee as if it were the most natural place in the world to sit.

What is painted

Jesus sits on a low seat of pale stone blocks in a cream robe, a red and rust striped mantle over his shoulder. A little girl in a pink dress sits on his knee and looks up into his face. Around them are three more children: a boy in blue at his shoulder, a smaller boy in green perched on the stones at his side, and a dark-haired girl in white kneeling at his feet, her hand on his knee.

There is no background at all, only a pale gray-white paper, so the group stands out like a sketch from a storybook. The watercolor is soft and loose, with warm skin tones and faded fabric colors. There is no lettering, so the faces carry the whole story.

“Suffer the little children”

The Gospels record that people brought young children to Jesus so that he would touch them, and his disciples rebuked those who brought them. Mark says Jesus was much displeased and said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14). “Suffer” here is old English for “allow”.

Mark then adds a detail that the painting echoes directly: “he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them” (Mark 10:16). Matthew 19 and Luke 18 tell the same episode. It is one of the clearest moments in the Gospels where Jesus overturns the idea that children are too small to matter.

Right before that, Jesus says that whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall not enter it. The scene is not only sweet; it is a lesson for the adults watching.

For a child's room, a baptism, a Sunday school

This is gentle jesus wall art for a nursery or a child's bedroom, where it can stay from the crib years through the teens. It is often chosen as a baptism gift, for a christening, a baby dedication or a First Communion, and teachers hang it in Sunday school rooms and church nurseries.

The Christian poster arrives unframed, printed to order in the United States on heavy archival matte paper, with free US shipping and a white border around the image. Sizes range from 5x7 to 24x36, with metric and A sizes too, and there is a digital file option.