Charity
Louis Jean François Lagrenée (Paris 1725 – Paris 1805)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1770 - 1771 (signed and dated)
Materials
Oil on copper
Measurements
159 x 187 mm (6 1/4 x 7 3/8 in)
Place of origin
Paris
Order this imageCollection
Stourhead, Wiltshire
NT 732366
Caption
This allegorical figure of a young woman with suckling infants follows the convention for depicting the Theological Virtue of Charity. The picture, painted in oils on copper, is one of several works at Stourhead by Lagrenée which were acquired from the artist by the Hoare family. Unlike the other paintings, this work left the family collection at an unknown date and was restored to the group by an anonymous donor in 1964.
Summary
Oil painting on copper, Charity by Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, the elder (Paris 1725 – Paris 1805), signed and dated: L.Lagrenee 177(?) [0 or more likely 1]. An allegorical figure of Charity in red, white, and blue drapery suckling a pair of naked infants. A third child, with his back to the viewer, sips from a bowl. The picture was bought from the artist by the Hoare family for the sum of 300 French Livres under the title La Charité. Having left the collection it rejoined the other Hoare Lagrenées at Stourhead through the generosity of an anonymous donor in 1964.
Provenance
Commissioned by the Duc de Choiseul (1719 – 1785) and bought from the artist by the Hoare family; Brian Koetser Gallery, by 1963; Gooden and Fox, 1963; presented to Stourhead House by an anonymous donor, 1964.
Credit line
Stourhead, The Hoare Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Louis Jean François Lagrenée (Paris 1725 – Paris 1805), artist