I was pleased to find the figure below on my travels last year. The subject is Roman Charity, and the title ROMAN CHARITY is impressed on the side, on the rock the elderly man sits upon. Notice that he is chained to the rock...and the chain is part of the story.
Roman Charity shows Pero, who gives milk from her breast to her father Cimon, unjustly condemned to death by starvation. Cimon is chained to the rock because he is imprisoned. In the first century, the Roman historian Valerian Maximus’s Memorable Acts and Sayings of the Ancient Romans upheld Pero’s deed as the utmost example of filial piety and respect. The subject has been popular in art since Roman times, and engravings of works by imminent artist such as Peter Paul Rubens and Caravaggio established the theme in the European art.
The group above is painted in enamel paints, and it is a particularly uncommon figure. It is somewhat better known from its color-glazed look-alike, and you see an example below. Interestingly, both groups are from the same molds.
The group above is painted in enamel paints, and it is a particularly uncommon figure. It is somewhat better known from its color-glazed look-alike, and you see an example below. Interestingly, both groups are from the same molds.
The difference extends to more than the means of decorating. Clearly, the colored glaze figure is far, far sharper. It is absolutely stunning and riveting--and it has just been sold from the stock of John Howard. Why the difference? The color-glazed figure has an impressed number on the back, and this number helps attribute the figure to Ralph Wood. The number is 92, but the figure can occur with 93 instead--or with no number at all. The quality of the glazes and the modeling simply scream of Ralph Wood at his finest. So what went wrong with the enamel-painted figure? I think that the enamel-painted figure was made from a much-used mold. It is possible that Ralph Wood made it too, but I think it more likely that the molds passed into the hands of some other pot bank after Ralph's demise.
So, big admission: much as it pains me to admit it, in this instance, the better figure is clearly the color-glazed figure, hands down!
I love this print in the British Museum, and surely it (or something similar) assisted Ralph Wood with the modeling.
So, big admission: much as it pains me to admit it, in this instance, the better figure is clearly the color-glazed figure, hands down!
I love this print in the British Museum, and surely it (or something similar) assisted Ralph Wood with the modeling.
Roman Charity. Published by Carington Bowles, London, 1780–1790. © The Trustees of the British Museum
If the whole Roman Charity yarn sounds vaguely familiar, perhaps it is because you recall the Grecian Daughter figure group telling the same story, the same moral...but the tale is presented somewhat more lewdly. As you see below, why bother with a cup if you can feed straight from the breast? This group is also from the sold stock archive of John Howard. A fabulous example, I think.
The Grecian Daughter also portrays the saga of Pero and her father, but this group was made a good 30 to 40 years after Roman Charity. Why the different title? Well, in the eighteenth century, Arthur Murphy lifted the plot of Cimon and Pero and titled his play The Grecian Daughter. Murphy's intent was to provide a stage role for the ailing actor, Mr. Barry, and the play opened at Drury Lane in February 1772, with Mr. and Mrs. Barry in the roles of Evander and Euphrasia, the Grecian and his daughter respectively. It ran intermittently on provincial stages and on the London stage until about 1815, and it was revived in 1830 for Miss Fanny Kemble. I am sure that the 1830 revival inspired The Grecian Daughter groups, all examples of which can be attributed to the "Sherratt" pot bank.
