Andalusian school of the 18th century.

Andalusian school of the eighteenth century.
After BARTOLOME ESTEBAN MURILLO (Seville, 1617 - 1682).
"The Charity of St. Thomas of Villanova".
Oil on canvas.
Relined.
Measurements: 94 x 69 cm; 111 x 85 x 7 cm (frame).

Copy of the XVIII century and of Andalusian school of a painting realized by Murillo for the convent of Capuchinos of Seville, at the moment conserved in the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville.

The scene takes place inside a church or archbishop's palace, with classical architectural lines. The saint, who occupies the center of the composition, is dressed in a black Augustinian habit with a pectoral cross hanging from his neck. This insignia, as well as the mitre and the crosier, recall his time as archbishop of Valencia. He appears in a charitable attitude, voluntarily abandoning his dedication to the reading of the sacred texts (represented in the form of large volumes open on a table) to occupy himself in helping several beggars, sick and crippled whose physiognomies Murillo extracted, as was usual in his work, from the popular life of Seville.

Before him appears a half-naked cripple whose figure is resolved foreshortened, as he is kneeling at his feet. Leaning on his left arm, he makes a supreme effort to raise his battered body and stretches out his right hand in supplication to reach the alms that Saint Thomas compassionately gives him. To his right, three staggered figures: a ragged boy, his head covered with pustules caused by ringworm and his left arm in a sling, looks sadly at the saint. An old man, who has already received the coin and holds it in his hand, prepares to kiss it. This series of moods contrasts with the equilibrium of the group in the lower left corner of the canvas, composed of a mother and her young son, in the semi-darkness of the lower left corner.

A second version of this subject is in the Wallace Collection, London.