Charity

Piero del Pollaiuolo painted this allegorical figure of Charity around 1469 as part of a series of Seven Virtues commissioned by the Mercanzia, the merchants' tribunal of Florence, for their audience hall. The series was largely executed by Piero, though one panel — Fortitude — was famously assigned to the young Sandro Botticelli. The Virtues series was a prestigious civic commission that reflected Florence's self-image as a republic governed by moral principles, and the enthroned female figures follow an established iconographic tradition rooted in medieval theology.

Piero's Charity sits on an elaborate marble throne rendered with careful attention to architectural detail and perspective. The figure's monumental solidity and the rich brocade of her garments reflect the Pollaiuolo workshop's strength in decorative surface treatment, though the figure lacks the dynamic energy of Antonio del Pollaiuolo's anatomical studies.