1525
oil
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Charity suckling a Child and Surrounded by Three Children Playing with a Dog and Hobby Horses is a 1525 oil by Domenico Beccafumi, a Mannerism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
The painting shows a woman, Charity, nursing a child surrounded by three other children playing with a dog and hobby horses. This scene is interesting because of the way the children are interacting with each other and the animals. The colors used are also bold and vibrant. To learn more about the use of bold colors in paintings like this, look up the technique of glazing.
The painting depicts Charity, a theological virtue, as a woman in a red dress with yellow highlights over a blue-green skirt, seated on a grassy mound and suckling an infant at her right breast. Three children surround her: one plays with a small dog to her left, while two others engage with hobby horses and whirligigs to her right, framed by a painted border. Originally part of a larger piece of painted furniture, the work was later reduced in size. The scene alludes to themes of Christian charity and childlike innocence drawn from the First Epistle to the Corinthians.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Domenico di Pace Beccafumi (1486 – May 18, 1551) was an Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter active predominantly in Siena. He is considered one of the last undiluted representatives of the Sienese school of painting.
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