Not currently on display at the V&A

A Humanist with Figures of Faith, Hope and Charity

Relief
1525-1550 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown
Place of origin
Lombardy (made)

Faith, Hope and Charity are commonly shown as allegories of Christian virtues. However, in this relief, the artist seems to use the chalice (Faith), the branch (Hope) and the bag of money (Charity) to identify the three virgin saints of the same names. Medieval legend claimed that the women were brought before a Roman governor during the reign of Emperor Hadrian prior to martyrdom.


Object details

Categories
Christianity
Sculpture
Reliefs
Object type
Relief
TitleA Humanist with Figures of Faith, Hope and Charity (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Marble
Marble
Brief description
Relief, Marble, depicting Faith, Hope and Charity, Lombardy, 1525-50
Physical description
Marble relief depicting the saints Faith (a chalice), Hope (a branch) and Charity (a bag of money).
Dimensions
  • Height: 83.5cm
  • Width: 67.6cm
  • Depth: 21.6cm
Gallery label
RELIEF with Sts Faith, Hope and Charity 1525-50 Faith, Hope and Charity are commonly shown as allegories of Christian virtues. However, in this relief, the artist seems to use the chalice (Faith), the branch (Hope) and the bag of money (Charity) to identify the three virgin saints of the same names. Medieval legend claimed that the women were brought before a Roman governor during the reign of Emperor Hadrian prior to martyrdom. Italy, Lombardy Marble Museum no. A12-1960 Purchased with the assistance of The Art Fund(2008)
Credit line
Purchased with Art Fund support
Object history
Bought, H.D.F.Carritt, for £2,500.
Subjects depicted
Chalice
Money
Branch
Hope
Faith
Charity
Summary
Faith, Hope and Charity are commonly shown as allegories of Christian virtues. However, in this relief, the artist seems to use the chalice (Faith), the branch (Hope) and the bag of money (Charity) to identify the three virgin saints of the same names. Medieval legend claimed that the women were brought before a Roman governor during the reign of Emperor Hadrian prior to martyrdom.
Bibliographic references
  • Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Volume II: Text. Sixteenth to Twentieth Century. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1964, pp. 543, 4
  • Raggio, Olga. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albertt Museum. Art Bulletin. Vol. L, 1968, p. 102
  • Fiorio, Maria Teresa. Bambaia. Catalogo complete delle opera. Florence, 1990, p. 144, no. 6A, illustr. p. 145
  • Agosti, Giovanni. Bambaia e il Classicismo Lambardo. Turin, 1990, p. 133, fig. 66
Collection
Sculpture Collection
Accession number
A.12-1960

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJuly 30, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O164541/a-humanist-with-figures-of-relief-unknown/
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest