@article{ART003398425},
author={SooyunHam},
title={Focusing on the Adaptation of Joshua Reynolds’s The Infant Samuel The “Praying Girl” in Industrializing Korea},
journal={Cross-Cultural Studies},
issn={1598-0685},
year={2026},
volume={79},
pages={427-452},
doi={10.21049/ccs.2026.79..427}
TY - JOUR
AU - SooyunHam
TI - Focusing on the Adaptation of Joshua Reynolds’s The Infant Samuel The “Praying Girl” in Industrializing Korea
JO - Cross-Cultural Studies
PY - 2026
VL - 79
IS - null
PB - Center for Cross Culture Studies
SP - 427
EP - 452
SN - 1598-0685
AB - This study argues that Joshua Reynolds’s The Infant Samuel was received in industrializing Korea as the “Praying Girl” and, combined with the phrase “May Today, Too, Pass Safely,” was refunctioned as an everyday image linking drivers’ faith and safety consciousness with their families’ hopes for their safe return. Although the original figure is the boy Samuel responding to God’s call, Korean materials instead foreground the image of a praying child. The study examines this transformation not merely as a misreading of gender but as a visual adaptation shaped by title, phrase, medium, and setting.
A comparison of the original work with later reproduced images shows that the repetition of a figure does not ensure the transmission of the same narrative or meaning; rather, accompanying language and the purposes of use shape how an image is interpreted. In Korea, the icon was received both as a religious image and as an everyday image connecting drivers’ safety consciousness with their families’ hopes for their safe return. Moreover, the phrase “May Today, Too, Pass Safely” could also function independently, without any particular praying figure, as a language of safety invocation. This study explains these processes in terms of the iconographic transformation of a praying image and the verbalization of safety invocation.
KW - The Infant Samuel;Praying Girl;“May Today;Too;Pass Safely”;visual adaptation;industrialization;barbershop paintings
DO - 10.21049/ccs.2026.79..427
ER -
SooyunHam. (2026). Focusing on the Adaptation of Joshua Reynolds’s The Infant Samuel The “Praying Girl” in Industrializing Korea. Cross-Cultural Studies, 79, 427-452.
SooyunHam. 2026, "Focusing on the Adaptation of Joshua Reynolds’s The Infant Samuel The “Praying Girl” in Industrializing Korea", Cross-Cultural Studies, vol.79, pp.427-452. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2026.79..427
SooyunHam "Focusing on the Adaptation of Joshua Reynolds’s The Infant Samuel The “Praying Girl” in Industrializing Korea" Cross-Cultural Studies 79 pp.427-452 (2026) : 427.
SooyunHam. Focusing on the Adaptation of Joshua Reynolds’s The Infant Samuel The “Praying Girl” in Industrializing Korea. 2026; 79 427-452. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2026.79..427
SooyunHam. "Focusing on the Adaptation of Joshua Reynolds’s The Infant Samuel The “Praying Girl” in Industrializing Korea" Cross-Cultural Studies 79(2026) : 427-452.doi: 10.21049/ccs.2026.79..427
SooyunHam. Focusing on the Adaptation of Joshua Reynolds’s The Infant Samuel The “Praying Girl” in Industrializing Korea. Cross-Cultural Studies, 79, 427-452. doi: 10.21049/ccs.2026.79..427
SooyunHam. Focusing on the Adaptation of Joshua Reynolds’s The Infant Samuel The “Praying Girl” in Industrializing Korea. Cross-Cultural Studies. 2026; 79 427-452. doi: 10.21049/ccs.2026.79..427
SooyunHam. Focusing on the Adaptation of Joshua Reynolds’s The Infant Samuel The “Praying Girl” in Industrializing Korea. 2026; 79 427-452. Available from: doi:10.21049/ccs.2026.79..427
SooyunHam. "Focusing on the Adaptation of Joshua Reynolds’s The Infant Samuel The “Praying Girl” in Industrializing Korea" Cross-Cultural Studies 79(2026) : 427-452.doi: 10.21049/ccs.2026.79..427
