Lucas Cranach the Elder, 'Charity', mid-1530s-1540s
About the work
Overview
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.
Cranach and his workshop painted this subject about a dozen times. In many of the other versions, Charity is depicted seated in a landscape.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Charity
- Artist
- Lucas Cranach the Elder
- Artist dates
- 1472 - 1553
- Date made
- mid-1530s-1540s
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 56.3 × 36.2 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed; Inscribed
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Rosalind, Countess of Carlisle, 1913
- Inventory number
- NG2925
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Susan Foister, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The German Paintings before 1800’, London 2024; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2014Strange Beauty: Masters of the German RenaissanceThe National Gallery (London)19 February 2014 - 11 May 2014
Bibliography
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1826J.B.L.G. Séroux d'Agincourt, Storia dell'arte dimostrata coi monumenti, 8 vols, Prato 1826
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1932M.J. Friedländer and J. von Rosenberg, Die Gemälde von Lucas Cranach, Berlin 1932
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1959Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The German Schools, London 1959
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1977M. Seidel, 'Ubera Matris: Die veilschichtige Bedeutung eines Symbols in der mittelalterlichen Kunst', Städel-Jahrbuch, VI, 1977, pp. 41-98
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1978M.J. Friedländer and J. von Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, revised edn, London 1978
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1993R. White and J. Pilc, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XIV, 1993, pp. 86-94
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1997R. Billinge et al., 'Methods and Materials of Northern European Painting in the National Gallery, 1400–1550', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XVIII, 1997, pp. 6-52
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2024S. Foister, National Gallery Catalogues: The German Paintings before 1800, 2 vols, London 2024
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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