Here is my concept sketch and my finished oil painting for
the portrayal of ‘Tiny Tim’s Death’ in Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’. Tim was the
young son of Bob Cratchit. He is portrayed as a very frail boy who uses a
crutch and leg irons to walk since he suffers from a severe illness. Mr.
Cratchit can’t afford treatment for his son since Scrooge underpays him.
When Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by The Ghost of Christmas
Present he is shown just how ill the boy really is, and that he will die unless
he receives treatment. When visited by The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come,
Scrooge sees that Tiny Tim has died. This, and several other visions,
ultimately led Scrooge to reform his ways.
In this painting I tried to capture the moment, when Bob
Cratchit has returned home and gone upstairs to pray at Tim’s bedside. Tiny Tim
has succumbed to his illness. Dickens writes, “He left the room, and went up
stairs into the room above, which was lighted cheerfully, and hung with
Christmas. There was a chair set close beside the child, and there were signs
of some one having been there, lately. Poor Bob sat down in it, and when he had
thought a little and composed himself, he kissed the little face. He was
reconciled to what had happened, and went down again quite happy.”
Charles Dickens wasn't the original author. He hurriedly butchered the completed manuscript of American co-authors Mathew and Abby Whittier. In this scene, Dickens has taken what was probably a page and a half, and butchered it to a brief scene. Originally, Bob Cratchit has been, for several days, visiting Tiny Tim's grave, which contains Tiny Tim's body. The room upstairs was a family Christmas shrine, containing a figurine of the Christ Child in the manger. Bob sits beside the Christ Child, and prays to Him, touching His "little face." This scene would have been much, much longer, as Bob wrestles with his grief in prayer. Dickens made a nonsensical travesty of it, in his hurry to get it published in time for Christmas, for desperately-needed cash.
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