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1 of 253523 objects
Charity c.1700-30
Oil on canvas | 123.6 x 165.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 402784
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Charity, seated at the centre, has three children about her, forming a pyramid. Her head is turned almost in profile to the right and rests against that of a naked boy who is standing. Another child is asleep on her lap, while a third suckles from her right breast. The subject of Charity, the greatest of the three theological virtues, developed in painting to become by the sixteenth century most typically represented by a woman with children around her, one often shown at her breast. She is seated on the ground as a sign of humility.
Cignani treated the subject a number of times in various compositions; this picture is a version of an original Cignani in a private collection at Bologna. Cignani was known to have employed numerous assistants, making it possible that this painting might be a studio work rather than merely an old copy.
The painting appears in Pyne's illustrated Royal Residences of 1819, hanging in the Queen's State Bedchamber at Windsor Castle (RCIN 922103).Provenance
Acquired in 1762 by George III from Joseph Smith, British Consul in Venice (Italian List no 219); recorded in the Great Room of the Library at Buckingham Palace in 1790; moved from there to Windsor in 1805
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
123.6 x 165.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
146.5 x 186.9 x 6.7 cm (frame, external)
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Object type(s)