Charity

This allegorical Charity from 1558 at the Bavarian State Painting Collections continues the Virtues series with the theological virtue of love. Charity was typically personified as a woman nursing or caring for children, combining abstract theological concepts with observed human tenderness. The theological virtue of Charity was typically personified as a nursing mother, a subject that allowed Veronese to combine moral meaning with the display of female beauty in a form endorsed by classical and religious tradition.

The figure of Charity is rendered with maternal warmth and Veronese's characteristic luminous modeling. The children in the composition add naturalistic charm to the allegorical subject.