The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 1, 2023

Charity

c. 1590

Abraham Bloemaert

(Dutch, 1564–1651)

Netherlands, late 16th Century

Oil on wood

Framed: 87 x 100 x 10.2 cm (34 1/4 x 39 3/8 x 4 in.); Unframed: 68.6 x 54.5 cm (27 x 21 7/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1994.10

Location

213 Dutch Painting

Fun Fact

Charity is almost always personified as a woman with children.

Description

Abraham Bloemaert drew on traditional depictions of the Virgin and Child for this allegorical image of Charity: a woman surrounded by children, one an infant for whom she has bared her breast. Bloemaert was one of the leading proponents of the Mannerist style in the Northern Netherlands. Characteristics of that style include exaggerated figural proportions, contorted poses, heightened colors, densely packed compositions, and a deliberate eroticism—invoked here to emphasize the magnetic quality of Charity’s serene beauty.

Provenance
Probably until 1992
Private collection, Caracas, Venezuela 1
1992
(Sotheby’s, New York, Jan. 17, 1992, no. 18 [as "attributed to Abraham Bloemaert"]; unsold)
1992-1993?
American private collection? 2
1993
(Sotheby’s, New York, private treaty sale, June 16, 1993, sold to Jack Kilgore)
1993-1994
(Jack Kilgore & Co., Inc., New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1994-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Provenance Footnotes

1 Sotheby's informed Jack Kilgore upon his purchase of the painting in 1993 that it was formerly owned by a private collector in Caracas.
2 According to Marcel Roethlisberger’s Abraham Bloemaert and Sons (1993), the painting was in an American private collection (attributed to Spranger) after it failed to sell at Sotheby’s in 1992. However, presumably, the painting remained with the consignor to that sale afterwards; that is, the Caracas private collector. Thus, the reference to the American private collection is questionable.
Citations
Jack Kilgore & Co., painting information sheet, in CMA curatorial file.
Jack Kilgore, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 22, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
Jack Kilgore, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 22, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
Roethlisberger, Marcel, and Marten Jan Bok. Abraham Bloemaert and His Sons: Paintings and Prints. Doornspijk: Davaco, 1993. 
Sotheby's (Firm). Important Old Master Paintings. Jan. 17, 1992.
Roethlisberger, Marcel, and Marten Jan Bok. Abraham Bloemaert and His Sons: Paintings and Prints. Doornspijk: Davaco, 1993. 

Jack Kilgore & Co., painting information sheet, in CMA curatorial file.
Jack Kilgore, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 22, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
Roethlisberger, Marcel, and Marten Jan Bok. Abraham Bloemaert and His Sons: Paintings and Prints. 2 vols. Doornspijk: Davaco, 1993. Mentioned: p. 86, no. 37; reproduced: fig. 72
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions to the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection,” August 26, 1994, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
Roethlisberger, Marcel. "Early Abraham Bloemaert." Tableau (Dec. 1994): 44 ff.
 Mentioned: p. 44; reproduced: fig. 6
Roethlisberger, Marcel, Sally Metzler, and Jennifer Hardin. Abraham Bloemaert (1566-1651) and His Time. Exh. cat. St. Petersburg, Fla: Museum of Fine Arts, 2001. Referenced: cat. no. 2, p. 37; Reproduced: cover
Exhibition history

Abraham Bloemaert (1566-1651) and His Time. Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg, FL (organizer) (January 28-April 8, 2001).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1994.10