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Roman Charity

1622
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 621

A woman kneels to nurse her elderly father, his hands shackled behind his back. These are Cimon, a man sentenced to death by starvation, and his daughter Pero, who defied both the law and social taboo to save her father’s life. Recorded by the Roman historian Valerius Maximus, this potentially shocking episode was celebrated in seventeenth-century Europe as an exemplar of filial piety. Ter Brugghen emphasizes the solemnity of the scene at the same time as he hints at lurking danger through the inclusion of a barely visible voyeur figure in the background.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Roman Charity
  • Artist: Hendrick ter Brugghen (Dutch, The Hague? 1588–1629 Utrecht)
  • Date: 1622
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 58 1/8 × 54 1/8 in. (147.6 × 137.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Wrightsman Fund, 2020
  • Object Number: 2020.320
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John, Hendrick ter Brugghen Dutch, Oil on canvas
The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John
Hendrick ter Brugghen
ca. 1624–25
Merry Company on a Terrace, Jan Steen Dutch, Oil on canvas
Merry Company on a Terrace
Jan Steen
ca. 1670
Self-Portrait, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Oil on canvas
Self-Portrait
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)
1660
The Dissolute Household, Jan Steen Dutch, Oil on canvas
The Dissolute Household
Jan Steen
ca. 1663–64
Young Herdsmen with Cows, Aelbert Cuyp Dutch, Oil on canvas
Young Herdsmen with Cows
Aelbert Cuyp
ca. 1655–60

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