When Jesus Christ was four years old The angels brought Him toys of gold

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When Jesus Christ was four years old The angels brought Him toys of gold

Margaret Tarrant (1888-1959)

Price

£4,500

Signed

Signed

Medium

Watercolour

Dimensions

6 ½ x 6 ½ inches

Illustrated

Design for a Medici greetings card

Exhibited

'The Illustrators: The British Art of Illustration 1807-2026' Chris Beetles Gallery, London, November 2026-January 2027, no 85

The Birds by Hilaire Belloc

'When Jesus Christ was four years old
The angels brought Him toys of gold,
Which no man ever had bought or sold.

And yet with these He would not play.
He made Him small fowl out of clay,
And blessed them till they flew away:
Tu creasti Domine

Jesus Christ, Thou child so wise,
Bless mine hands and fill mine eyes,
And bring my soul to Paradise.'

The Birds was first published in 1910 by Hilaire Belloc. Then in 1929, when only he was only 15, Benjamin Britten arranged the verse for soprano and strings, later revising it in 1934 for voice and piano, and dedicating it to his mother, Edith.