Charity
1781
Sir Joshua Reynolds brings the virtue of charity to life with a tender, almost chaotic embrace of motherhood. A serene woman in flowing peach and blue robes is completely surrounded by three cherubic children—one clinging to her leg, another wrapped around her waist, and a toddler perched precariously on her shoulder. Painted in 1781 during the height of British Neoclassicism, this piece was a gift to the Warden of New College, Oxford, blending classical ideals of virtue with the relatable, exhausting reality of caring for little ones. As the first president of the Royal Academy, Reynolds loved painting grand, moral subjects like this to elevate British art to the level of the Old Masters.
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