Charity. Design for a Roundel 

Curator: Alfred Stevens, a sculptor and painter of the Victorian era, created this roundel design called "Charity". It's a small pencil sketch, just over 10cm square, held in the Tate collections. What’s your first impression? Editor: It feels... tentative. A whisper of an idea. The circular format, of course, speaks to wholeness, but the sketch itself is so light, so open, like a gentle embrace in the making. Curator: Yes, the embrace! "Charity" here, as we see her, is almost archetypal mother, holding a child so close it's as though they're one being. It reminds me of early Christian iconography. Editor: Absolutely, the maternal figure is timeless. The roundel, with its classical associations, immediately evokes those Renaissance tondi, but rendered with a distinctly Victorian sentimentality. What do you suppose he was aiming for? Curator: Perhaps a fresh take on an old idea, stripping away the gold leaf and regal bearing to find the simple human connection at its core. I think he found it. Editor: I agree. It’s a quiet moment of grace.