Liberality (Liberalitas)

Engraving, part of a series of nine oval prints with allegorical representations of the virtues, and with a kind of exergue on the bottom containing an inscription of the virtue represented. The virtues are represented by female figures endowed with their attributes and landscapes in the backgrounds. In most cases, the attributes are composite and recall other virtues, suggesting that the person who possesses one virtue can have them all. Delaune seems to insist, particularly, on the virtues of wisdom, peace and piety as the basis for the development of other virtues. In this print, Liberality is represented by a woman walking towards the right, who is planting grains in a recently plowed field, as revealed by the shovel that stands behind her. This representation of Liberality is endowed with all the attributes of Charity: a bag with grains at her feet, the birds eating the grains she is pouring on the ground, and the hard work, represented by the shovel and the pelican. This representation of Liberality insists on the act of total generosity implied by charity, while the representation of Friendship, in the previous print of this set, presents the notion of love in charity.