Description:Oil painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905).
For the early Christian Church ‘Charity’ was the ‘mother of all virtues’. From at least the 16th century artists and poets depicted Charity as a mother of three or more children, one of them still breast feeding. Bouguereau’s painting can be understood as a response to this tradition. The notice in the corner of the painting is advertising a sermon on ‘CHARITÉ’. However, it could also be read as social commentary, drawing attention to the needs of those who could not find work and were destitute.
Presented by Charles Harding, 1897.