Before swimming came into popularity as a pastime there was sea bathing, a practice that traces back to the 1600s but which really took off during the Victorian age, when the advent of railroads allowed fast and easy passage to the seaside in many European countries and the American coasts. While adults tended to wear clothes for such bathing, at least in mixed company, children were given a bit more leeway with regard to their bathing costume. It was not uncommon for young children to bathe sans habillement—that is, without clothing. While occasional prudish laws and mores cropped up before then—e.g.Wikipedia states the following: “For example, in the 16th century, a German court document in the Vechta prohibited the naked (meaning everything exposed) public swimming of children.”—it wasn’t until the 20th century that the prevailing tastes of the West deemed it necessary for children to don clothing while at public beaches. Thus, several artists of the era captured children frolicking nude at the seaside, one of the few places where this was still allowed in public. Perhaps these painters were drawn to these scenes because they recalled something of the Classical Age that the Victorians and 19th century Europeans were so fascinated with. A few painters, most notably Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, dedicated nearly their whole career to these beach idylls.
Théophile Auguste Vauchelet – l’Eau (Early 1800s)
Théophile Auguste Vauchelet – Le Printemps (Early 1800s)
Anselm Feuerbach – Children on the Beach
Bouguereau’s little bathers are just beginning to shed their clothes:
William-Adolphe Bouguereau – Les jeunes baigneuses (1879)
Benito Rebolledo Correa – Children Playing at the Beach
Benito Rebolledo Correa – Girl on the Beach
Benito Rebolledo Correa – La Brisa
Benito Rebolledo Correa – Nina frente al mar
Charles Chaplin – Two Girls Bathing (1866)
Frederick Arthur Bridgman – The Bathing Beauties (1872)
Emanuel Phillips Fox – The Bathing Hour
Hans Heyerdahl – The Rock
Maurice Denis – Games in the Sand
Paul Émile Chabas – Mother and Child Bathing
Paul Émile Chabas – Premier bain (1907) (1)
Paul Émile Chabas – Premier bain (1907) (2)
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida – Antes del Bano (1909)
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida – Las dos hermanas (1909)
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida – The Bath, Jávea (1905)
Paul Gustave Fischer – A Day at the Beach (1900)
Wikipedia: William-Adolphe Bouguereau
William-Adolphe Bouguereau: The Complete Works
Wikipedia: Charles Chaplin (artist)
Wikipedia: Frederick Arthur Bridgman
Frederick Arthur Bridgman: The Complete Works
In the 1960s it was normal in Europe that little (preschool) children bathe naked at the beach.
Yes, many people have come forward with this kind of comment. Thank you.