Milk and Charity: The Sacred Flow of Giving

Throughout art history and across cultures, the allegory of Charity has been vividly depicted through the bodies of women. These female figures—most often mothers—are shown nourishing children or even strangers through the intimate act of breastfeeding. This maternal imagery is not incidental; it is a deliberate visual language where breast milk becomes a symbol of boundless love, tenderness, and compassion. As a life-giving substance, breast milk reflects both the earthly kindness of humanity and the transcendent grace of the divine. In these depictions, the female body is elevated beyond its biological function to become a vessel through which the ideals of charity are made manifest. Nourishment itself becomes a metaphor for Charity, with the act of giving life understood as the purest form of moral virtue. Throughout the centuries, the intertwining of the maternal and the divine in representations of Charity has allowed artists to explore the deep connections between physical sustenance and virtues. The female body—capable of nurturing, healing, and sustaining life—stands as an enduring icon of selflessness, mercy, and compassion. This curation seeks to examine how the allegory of Charity, expressed through breastfeeding and maternal imagery, has evolved across historical periods and national traditions, reflecting the shifts in attitudes toward virtue, motherhood, gender, and the sacred.

Andrea del Sarto, Charity, 1486–1530, oil on wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ascension Number: 1957.14.5

Deriving inspiration from the Biblical virtue of Charity, or Love named by the Apostle Paul, Sarto creates the image of a young woman surrounded by three young children, one of whom is positioned at her breast. Sarto takes the mortal female capability for compassion and selflessness through the act of breastfeeding and blends it with the divine love of the Almighty God that is represented in the blazing flames just behind the woman in the background. 

Lambert Suavius, Charity, 1530–76, engraving; first state, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ascension Number: 59.508.63

Suavius’s Charity offers an engraved work capturing the central principles of Charity, a motherlike woman surrounded by children. The figure of Charity is depicted juggling the needs of eight children through her body as a protective and nurturing space around them. This Charity is yet again a persistent symbol of the selfless capabilities of the female body intertwined with the inability to truly meet the needs of eight at a time; this is where the divine steps in. 

Claudius Floris, Charity, 1536–1548, alabaster, traces of gilding, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ascension Number: 65.110

While there continues to be much debate on who to accredit this sculpture to, the artist meticulously formed the female figure of Charity to display a motherly nurturing to three small children. One child clings to the woman’s hip, another stands plastered to the woman’s leg, and the third is held up to the woman’s breast as if reaching for nourishment. This allegory of Charity stands in a tranquil contro-pasto stance as she gazes at the ground with a faint grin. This statue was intended for the use of the church as it was a support for a crucifix and separated the altar from the worshipers. Yet again, a woman’s form is used a visual representation of the love humanity can embody along with the divine love it cannot. 

Peter Flötner, Charity, 1540, bronze, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ascension Number: 26.14.13

This piece is one of a series of the Seven Virtues created by Flötner. In this one Charity, a woman holds onto a child while another lifts up an apple. This depiction of Charity is unique in a couple of ways; there are only two children instead of three but most significantly, the charity of the woman is reciprocated through the act of the child offering an apple to the woman. This humanizes Charity as she is shown to be capable of receiving love and compassion apart from the gifting of it. 

Hendrick ter Brugghen, Roman Charity, 1622, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ascension Number: 59.508.63

While typically the allegory of Charity is visually represented as a woman, or mother, caring for a child, ter Brugghen takes a different approach. In his Roman Charity, ter Brugghen invites us into a picture of a young woman bending down to nurse an elderly man. We come to realize, this is a depiction of Pero and her imprisoned father Cimon. Cimon has been sentenced to death by starvation by the Roman Empire and in an effort to save her dying father, Pero pushed against the oppressive law of Rome as well as the stereotypical purposes of breastfeeding. Radical love and sacrifice is pictured through the capability a woman’s body has to sustain life at any given point.

Guido Reni, Charity, 1630, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ascension Number: 1974.348

Reni continues the age-long model of Charity with a young woman tending to the needs of many at one time. The woman peers over to her right as three roly poly red headed babies ask different things of her body. One leans over her shoulder for support, another sleeps peacefully in her arms, and the third finds nourishment at her breast. Love, service, and compassion are embodied in this woman as her motherly form is used as a vessel by which to tell the story of Charity. The physical act of nourishment is a beautiful picture of the emotional connection and sacrifice from giver to receiver.