Albert Anker

This study on tracing paper belongs to the painting Day Nursery I (1890), which is in the collection of Museum Reinhart am Stadtgarten in Winterthur. The painting and the preparatory sketch depict children at the day nursery in Gerberngraben in the city of Bern. It shows the children being looked after by a deaconess while they are eating. The day nursery, founded by the deaconesses as late as 1879, is a decidedly urban institution, resulting from ongoing social developments in the city. Rural communities based around agriculture, in contrast, did not require day nurseries for after-school childcare. The division between home and workplace had not yet become as pronounced, so even small farmers living in poverty and the many people working from home were able to look after their own children. It was only following the exodus from rural areas that family networks were torn apart. Grandmothers stayed behind when people moved to the city for work, and girls old enough to look after the younger children were sent out to earn a wage. In addition, families were heavily burdened and frequently afflicted by the hard work and long working hours. Small children were in danger of becoming neglected. As a result, a day nursery was founded in Bern’s Gerberngraben. According to the day nursery’s regulations, children between fourteen days and four years old would be admitted. The day nursery, as a social service, was intended for children whose mothers were unable, for everyday reasons, to take care of their children themselves and had no other childcare options available to them. What is remarkable about the image is that for both the deaconess and the children, residents of Ins and the surrounding area served as Anker’s models. Anker has then, in a sense, in portraying the children from Seeland, transported them to an urban scene in Bern.