Fritz von Uhde

"The one whom I honor most of all is Rembrandt. Rubens and Velasquez painted better than Rembrandt, but he was the greatest of all painters because he was most powerful humanly. His grasp of all things was from within out. He had something that surpassed all other painters-a great humanity. He is perhaps the only one who could have painted the Christ."

"In studying the problem of the painting of Christ's figure, I found it to be the painting of the great problem of life. To me He was the bringer of light to the darkness of the world. Many of the French artists wished to find the light in Nature. I wished to find the light within the figure that I was presenting. In Christ I grasped the embodiment of the outward and the inward light. I wished to bring things out of the darkness, as Rembrandt found all things through light."

"Before commencing this work I had begun to realize how children follow the Spirit."

"Uhde's tenderest work"

"Rather than just a depiction of nature, I searched for something like soul. I was occupied with painting children, studying them was more rewarding to me than studying adults at that time. I also wanted to give more to the children."

"Though I have some objections to Uhde, I admit that I certainly admire the main part of this picture, which forms three-quarters of it — the children."

"Die Kunst soll nach Vollendung streben, soll ehrliche, gründliche Arbeit verrichten, und soweit dies die modernen »Impressionisten« tun, schließe ich auch diese Richtung innerhalb der Kunst (Fr. von Uhde, Max Klinger) von der Kunst selbst nicht aus."