Detail of Charity by Guido Reni in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2022

Title: Charity

Artist: Guido Reni (Italian, Bologna 1575–1642 Bologna)

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 54 x 41 3/4 in. (137.2 x 106 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1974

Accession Number: 1974.348


This allegorical figure of Charity follows a well-established iconographical model of a woman breastfeeding a group of children. Reni commanded the highest prices and greatest admiration among his contemporaries for such idealized faces and jewel-like tones. This painting may have been commissioned or bought by Prince Karl Eusebius von Liechtenstein (1611–1684), who traveled to Italy in 1629–30.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437422