| Caritas Romana | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Gaspar de Crayer |
| Year | c. 1625 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 198 [1] cm× 144 cm(77.9 in× 56.6 in) |
| Location | Museo del Prado, Madrid |
Caritas is an oil on canvas painting by Flemish painter Gaspar de Crayer. The painting is in the collection of the Museo del Prado in Madrid. [1] [2]
The subject of the painting is the exemplary story of Roman Charity. The story, part of the Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium , [3] was written down by the ancient Roman historian Valerius Maximus. Maximus' story tells of a certain Cimon, an aged man starving to death in prison. His daughter, Pero, is permitted by the jailer to visit her starving father, and she suckles him. The story exemplifies daughterly love. [4]
A painting in the Temple of Piety ancient Rome reportedly depicted the scene. [5] Wall paintings and terracotta statues from the first century, excavated in Pompeii, suggest that the visual representations of Pero and Cimon might have been common in Ancient Rome. It is difficult to say whether said representations were created in response to Maximus's story or preceded and possibly inspired his story. [6] Among the Romans, the theme echoed Juno's breastfeeding of the adult Hercules, an Etruscan myth. [7]
De Crayer's early style followed the 16th century tradition of Antwerp artists such as Marten de Vos and Hendrik de Clerck. This style was characterized by an unnatural perspective and the crowding of long wooden figures in the foreground. [8] From 1618, the painter came under the influence of Rubens. The level of borrowing of motifs from Rubens suggests that he had some contract with the workshop of Rubens from which de Crayer might have drawn inspiration for some of his subjects and models. [9] The influence is shown in a more monumental rendering of figures in more balanced compositions. [8]
Between 1638 and 1648 de Crayer's compositions started to display a lighter tonality and his figures became softer and more sentimental in appearance. [9] This may have been influenced by the later work of Rubens. [8] His work also showed a trace of the Venetian 16th-century masters, in particular Titian and Paolo Veronese. [9] De Crayer, however, never visited Italy and he mostly knew their work through the prints of Agostino Carracci.
In later works, the influence of Caravaggio is also clear. [4] De Crayer, who neither studied in nor visited Italy, had to reinterpret the Italians' approaches from secondary sources. The clearest influence on the Prado's Caritas, reportedly painted in early 1625, is that of Rubens. [4] [9] [8]
The painting depicts the dramatic climax of Maximus' story. The starving Cimon reclines in the lap of his young daughter who has bared her breasts and is suckling him. The setting is Cimon's cell. There is a notice affixed to the wall, just above Pero's fingers on the 2-dimensional surface of the painting. Her fingers gently touch her father's head. There are some chiaroscuro effects in the painting, and the sensuality of Pero's mien, rather than her uncovered breast, contrasts with the devotion the painting exudes. [2] [1] [10]
The Museo del Prado, officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on the former Spanish royal collection, and the single best collection of Spanish art. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it also contains important collections of other types of works. The numerous works by Francisco Goya, the single most extensively represented artist, as well as by Hieronymus Bosch, El Greco, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, and Diego Velázquez, are some of the highlights of the collection. Velázquez and his keen eye and sensibility were also responsible for bringing much of the museum's fine collection of Italian masters to Spain, now one of the largest outside of Italy.
Gaspar de Crayer or Jasper de Crayer was a Flemish painter known for his many Counter-Reformation altarpieces and portraits. He was a court painter to the governors of the Southern Netherlands and worked in the principal cities of Flanders where he helped spread the Rubens style.
Roman Charity or Cimon and Pero is an ancient Greek and Roman exemplary story of filial piety in which a woman secretly breastfeeds her father or mother, incarcerated and supposedly sentenced to death by starvation. Once caught, the loving devotion shown so moves the authorities that she is forgiven and the parent is typically freed. The father in the story is often named Cimon and the daughter Pero, although other versions name the father Mycon. First attested in surviving Roman sources, it became a common theme in Early Modern period of Western European art, particularly the Baroque period.
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