Roman Charity

Roman Charity, by Bernardino Mei

Roman Charity (or Carità Romana) is the exemplary story of a daughter, Pero, who secretly breastfeeds her father, Cimon, after he is incarcerated and sentenced to death by starvation. She is found out by a jailer, but her act of selflessness impresses officials and wins her father's release.^[1]

The story is recorded in Nine Books of Memorable Acts and Sayings of the Ancient Romans (De Factis Dictisque Memorabilibus Libri IX) by the ancient Roman historian Valerius Maximus, and was presented as a great act of filial piety and Roman honour. A painting in the Temple of Pietas depicted the scene.^[2] Among Romans, the theme had mythological echoes in Juno's breastfeeding of the adult Hercules, an Etruscan myth.^[3]

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many famous European artists depicted the scene.^[4] Most outstandingly, Peter Paul Rubens painted several versions. Baroque artist Caravaggio also featured the deed (among others) in his work from 1606, The Seven Works of Mercy. Neoclassical depictions tended to be more subdued.^[5]

In Jan Vermeer's famous painting The Music Lesson, in the back can be seen a painting of the Roman Charity, consistent with his habit of putting paintings within paintings.^[6]

For a 20th century fictional account of Roman Charity, see John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath (1939).^[7] At the end of the novel, Rosasharn (Rose of Sharon) nurses a sick and starving man in the corner of a barn.

Artists' depictions

• 

  Fresco from Pompeii
  Artist unknown.
  Mid 1st century AD

• 

  "Roman Charity"
  Artist unknown.
  (c. 1500-1520)

• 

  "Roman Charity"
  Artist unknown.
  (c. 1540-1550)

• 

  "Cimon and Pero"
  By Hans Sebald Beham

• 

  "Roman Charity"
  By Dirck Van Baburen

• 

  "Roman Charity"
  By Peter Paul Rubens

• 

  "Cimon and Pero"
  By Charles Mellin

• 

  "Roman Charity"
  By Johan Zoffany

• 

  "Roman Charity"
  By Jean-Baptiste Greuze (c. 1767)

• 

  "Cimon and Pero"
  By Christoph Maucher
  (amber, 1690)

Notes and references

1. ^ "Iconographical sources of nursing and nursing gestures in Christian cultures," Darkfiber.com, last visited 29 March 2006
2. ^ Mary Beagon, The Elder Pliny on the Human Animal: Natural History Book 7 (Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 314 online.
3. ^ Nancy Thomson de Grummond, Etruscan Myth, Sacred History, and Legend (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2006), pp. 83–84.
4. ^ J. Paul Getty Museum. Cimon and Pero: "Roman Charity." Jean-Baptiste Greuze., last visited 23 September 2008
5. ^ Shearer West, "Guide To Art." Bloomsbury, 1996 Bloomsbury.com, accessed 29 March 2006
6. ^ Arthur K. Wheelock, "Vermeer & the Art of Painting." Artchive.com, accessed March 29, 2006
7. ^ Steinbeck, John. The Grapes Of Wrath. New York: Viking Press, 1939.

External links

• Nine Books of Memorable Acts and Sayings of the Ancient Romans, in Latin
• "The Female Breast as a Source of Charity: Artistic Depictions of Caritas Romana", an essay by Golda Balass, a lecturer in the Department of Art History at Tel Aviv University
• Stargate Libraries Gallery