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Notes
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In 1 Corinthians 13, Saint Paul discusses three traits that would become known as the theological virtues: faith, hope and charity. He believed that charity, an expression of the love of God and of one’s neighbour, was the most important. Here, the inscription ‘CHARITAS’ at the top of the picture identifies the female figure. Charity was personified as a woman with her children in art from the fourteenth century onward. Charity is draped in a transparent veil that curves around her body. She wears a choker and gold chain in the style of jewellery worn by women of the court of Saxony, where Cranach worked. In contrast to Charity and her children, who wear nothing, the doll held by the girl on the left is clothed in a green dress in the contemporary style.
Title
Charity
Date
1537-50
Medium
Oil on beech
Measurements
H 56.3 x W 36.2 cm
Accession number
NG2925
Acquisition method
Presented by Rosalind Countess of Carlisle, 1913
Work type
Painting