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Playful Drawings That Charles Darwin's Children Left on His Manuscripts
- Aeolun 2y agoI don’t really care whose they are. I just love seeing any of these drawings. I have to imagine that drawing was a much greater source of entertainment at the time, and I’m kind of sad that that isn’t the case any more.
- Terr_ 2y agoYou might also enjoy the preserved stick-figure art of a 13th-century kid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onfim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onfim
- drzaiusx11 2y agoMy kids draw constantly (including on things they shouldn't), but I also limit screen time so that may have something to do with it
- warner25 2y agoYeah, starting around age four, all of my kids became prolific artists, going through dozens of sheets of paper per day. With our oldest kid, we tried hanging them up on the wall, but it quickly ended up covering every inch of a long hallway. Now, to keep our house from overflowing, I just photograph[1] all the drawings every night and recycle them (see my other comment about personally using the back sides of some for my own notes). [1] After four kids, I've fallen behind on sorting through the photos, but we have albums for the artwork that each of them has made. It's pretty cool to see it all in one place, and how their work has become more sophisticated over time.
- Aeolun 2y agoI mean, they have to be into it too. I love drawing, but my child would rather do anything but.
- WalterBright 2y agoThey're also surprisingly good drawings. I drew nothing like them as a kid.
- lm28469 2y agoAnd given the current war against boredom it's not going to get better.
- comboy 2y agoIs it not? My kids with all technology and toys they have access to still often choose drawing. And it's not like their main thing or something they strive to get better at. It's just fun. So definitely no reason to be sad, it is still a great source of entertainment (and not only for the kids)
- bag_boy 2y agoAh, how nice is this? We’re no longer in the “they’re being auctioned off as NFTs soon” phase of digitized historical documents.
- bloomingkales 2y agoI’m not really exposed to children’s drawings, but these look particularly talented. I always feel a little weird about generating AI art because it really is standing on the shoulders of giants. I’d say it’s the closest thing to when Napster got everyone used to theft. Any little simple drawing you generate is really off the back of kids and teenagers that draw out of a passion. So I try not to do it, feels icky. Ideally we want a world where we license the artist’s style, and hopefully they can get paid out like streaming music artists in the long term. Along with that, we need laws that let you sue people that copy the style with no license.
- ses1984 2y agoNapster got people used to piracy not theft. Tape recording was already huge before Napster and it’s also considered piracy.
- bloomingkales 2y agoClass Piracy extends Theft. It’s just an abstraction. I don’t want to go down this rabbit hole though.
- avian 2y agoAll I get is "Error 405 [country] users must use proxy." I wonder what that's about. GDPR?
- welferkj 2y ago"We are currently unable to steal your data, please check back later."
- latexr 2y ago> GDPR? Unlikely. I’m in the EU and can access the website just fine.
- Fluorescence 2y agoLooking at other parts of the site, I expect it's attack/abuse mitigation. These unfortunate souls are trying to host interesting free content. I expect they are getting crawled to dust and unfortunately, so much nuisance came from your country's IP range they had little other option but to block it.
- warner25 2y agoMy kids just freely grab sheets of printer paper when they want to draw stuff. To save paper, I later use the other sides of their drawings for any handwritten notes or conceptual sketches that I make. I guess people will be really amused if I ever become a historical figure and they see these.
- kirubakaran 2y agoAnd of course if your children become historical figures, the future people might be amused by your "conceptual sketches" :)
- warner25 2y agoVery good!
- jesprenj 2y ago> Error 405 Slovenian users must use proxy. > Slovenian users must use proxy. > Guru Meditation: > XID: 66443665 > Varnish cache server interesting ...
- wslh 2y agoIt is like moving to the past in a time machine where you see the importance of horses as transport. Also connected to the Onfim's drawings [1]. Horses as a technology most probably will surpass cars in the way we know them now. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onfim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onfim
- dennis_jeeves2 2y ago>The Darwin kids “were used as volunteers,” says Kohn, “to collect butterflies, insects, and moths, and to make observations on plants in the fields around town.” Back then, I suppose there were no child labor laws. /s
- dennis_jeeves2 2y ago>“Children are one’s greatest happiness,” he once wrote, “but often & often a still greater misery. A man of science ought to have none.” Brats..
- svat 2y agoContext for that quote: > Children are one’s greatest happiness, but often & often a still greater misery. A man of science ought to have none, — perhaps not a wife; for then there would be nothing in this wide world worth caring for & a man might (whether he would is another question) work away like a Trojan. — https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/02/12/darwin-family-work-happiness/ https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/02/12/darwin-family-work... Looks like Darwin really loved his wife and ten children. Indeed Wikipedia says “Charles was a devoted father and uncommonly attentive to his children” citing https://web.archive.org/web/20130723181529/http://www.aboutdarwin.com/darwin/WhoWas.html https://web.archive.org/web/20130723181529/http://www.aboutd... which says: > The home life Charles Darwin was unlike that of most Victorian country gentleman. The most striking difference was seen in how he interacted with his children. […] Charles always took a keen interest in whatever they were doing. and has many lovely quotes from his children like: > He cared for all our pursuits and interests, and lived our lives with us in a way that very few fathers do. […] He always put his whole mind into answering any of our questions. and the author of the page (David Leff) ends with: > The manner in which Darwin related to his family was truly special. In fact, based on conversations I have had with other Darwin enthusiasts and with some of his descendants, it is safe to say that for Darwin his family life was far more important to him than his research into the natural sciences.
- ripvanwinkle 2y agoVery cool to have his kids closely involved in his work
- grumblepeet 2y agoSome of those drawings are copies of Edward Lear illustrations. I recognised the style. I didnt see that mentioned in the article although I might have missed it. I like the little drawings though very cute.
- autoexec 2y ago> The project’s director, David Kohn, “doesn’t know for certain which kids were the artists,” notes Staynor, “but he guesses that at least three were involved: Francis, who became a botanist; George, who became an astronomer and mathematician; and Horace, who became an engineer.” Are we sure these were all from the children and none were the work of their father? Why couldn't Charley have thrown in a silly doodle himself?
- ziofill 2y agoHis children were much better than me at drawing, that’s for sure