Charity

This drawing is based on a mural Bourguereau designed to decorate the newly built church of Sainte-Clotilde in Paris. Built in the Gothic style, the church was consecrated in 1857. As the project to decorate the church was large, Bouguereau worked as part of a team of artists supervised by François Picot. Scenes from the life of Saint Louis decorated the lower two-thirds of the walls of the chapel they worked on, while allegorical figures stood above. This drawing represents Charity and appeared on the wall alongside Faith and Hope. The subject matter was highly appropriate when the drawing was sold at an auction in December 1864 to benefit the artist Pierre Faure, who had become paralysed. It is possible that Bourguereau created this drawing especially for the sale, which raised over 30,000 francs for Faure.

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Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

George A. Lucas, Paris, 1864, by purchase [1]; William T. Walters, Baltimore, ca. 1864, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

[1] sold at the Hotel Drouot, Paris, 15 December, 1864, at an auction to benefit Pierre Faure, artist. Price listed in Lucas diary as 160 francs, price listed in the "Moniteur des Arts," 130 francs. As this drawing appears in Walters' album of French drawings, we can assume he purchased it from Lucas shortly after the auction.