title: Boys in art. The artist and his model: Ferdinand and Hector Hodler. A new approach.
abstract: In literature serious attention is rarely paid to the theme of "the boy in art," although many artists used and still use boys as a medium for their message. By a detailed analysis of the symbolism in a series of paintings by Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918), the author attempts a reinterpretation of the pictures this Swiss artist made of his young son Hector. The author rejects traditional Freudian speculations and uses a hitherto neglected and repudiated source for understanding Hodler's symbolism, the social and artistic ideas of a circle of Rosicrucians to which the painter adhered.
authors.affiliation: Hogeschool Rotterdam & Omstreken, Netherlands.
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Ogrinc
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006716:Homosexuality / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010151:Paintings / Q000266:history*; D010378:Pedophilia / Q000266:history*; D013557:Switzerland