nins

The NINS collection, declared a Listed Heritage of the Balearic Islands (BC) and created over more than fifty years by the artists Ben Jakober and Yannick Vu, is made up of portraits of children from the 16th to the 19th centuries and makes up the origin of the Sa Bassa Blanca Museum.

Its importance resides in the fact that they are exclusively portraits of infant-age children from different European courts, generally representing children of high-ranking characters. In addition to providing information on courtly stories that will delight history buffs, this collection stands as a graphic document of vital importance when it comes to the study of the evolution of fashion, jewelry and other accessories, details of vital importance when we refer to the study and documentation of these pieces.

This selection allows us to follow the evolution of a certain representation of children and the slow metamorphosis of the costumes, which little by little lose their elegant austerity to reach a frivolous exuberance.

Of undoubted interest is the symbology of the objects with which these children are represented, not only the emblematic accessories and attributes of power, such as sceptres, crowns, thrones, curtains and buffets, but also animals, fruits, flowers; all of them symbolizing and underlining the need for a good education and emphasizing the desirable virtues.

A large part of these portraits were sent from one court to another with the hope that they would facilitate a marriage -often consanguineous- to strengthen the ties between the most powerful royal houses. The portraits of these little princes, whose lives have the flavor of fables and the mystery of legends, remain today as the true testimony of their time and make us enter a hieratic world, more moving than our contemporary concerns. But the look of each one of these "child-kings" facing their destinies and the kingdoms they embody, suggests a deep questioning that cannot leave us indifferent.

Following the particular history of these children, it is evident that these princes and princesses experienced a childhood that has nothing in common with what is understood today by this word; but even with everything, these faces emerging from the past perfectly express the enigma and fugitive nature of childhood...