Charity, seated in a landscape surrounded by five nude children 1692 - 1727

Curator: It has this certain light to it, doesn’t it? Almost angelic… like a sweet dream I might have after too much wine and cheese. Editor: I agree. It's bucolic in mood. This print is entitled “Charity, seated in a landscape surrounded by five nude children.” The piece comes to us from the hand of Giovanni Battista Catenaro, placing it somewhere between 1692 and 1727. Curator: Catenaro… his name sounds like a melody that's somehow incomplete, just like those slightly awkward cherubs swirling around the woman. You almost feel bad for them! Editor: These baroque depictions of charity are fascinating. This one employs a figuration that embodies the virtues Renaissance and Baroque artists loved: here we see abundance and nurturing cast within an almost hyper-idealized vision of motherhood. Curator: Well, the landscape helps! All those shady trees behind the grouping create such a theatrical backdrop… but there is some sort of… I do not know, forced perspective at play? Like a stage setting, really. What kind of performance of selflessness might be at play, given that these displays of Charity were often sponsored? Editor: It's certainly not lost on me. Printmaking, particularly engraving like this, played a critical role in disseminating these ideals across broader audiences. "Charity" becomes less about the actual act, and more about broadcasting it—an early form of PR, perhaps? It’s intriguing how Catenaro positions her in a timeless space, while at the same time reflecting contemporary socio-political expectations of wealthy benefactors to be seen participating in these practices. Curator: Ah! "Benefactor Barbie!" So that’s why her vacant gaze troubles me—as if trapped in an eternal photoshoot—eternally proving her good deeds. Makes me want to weep and gnash my teeth all at once. Editor: Indeed, Catenaro seems caught in a bit of a bind then: compelled to render both virtue and ideal form while fulfilling commissioned messaging and marketing purposes. Curator: Leaving us centuries later to debate what this print *truly* intends… Editor: Leaving us today to ponder: Does intended matter as much as what emerges through varied interpretation? Perhaps not, if art can challenge or expand, at any rate, accepted ways of seeing.