Follower of Murillo, 19th century

Andalusian school of the 19th century. Follower of BARTOLOMÉ ESTEBAN MURILLO (Seville, 1617 - Cadiz, 1682).
"The Roman Charity".
Oil on canvas.
With period frame.
Presents faults in the frame.
Measurements: 136 x 176 cm; 150 x 190 cm (frame).

The work is based on the canvas "The Roman Charity", a painting of the same title that was destroyed in the fire at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts (United States) in 1845. The painting had belonged to the collection of Manuel Godoy. After the Napoleonic invasion of Spain and the capture of Madrid, the engraver who had it in his possession to make an engraving, Tomás López Enguídanos, fled to Valencia taking the painting with him, although in the end he had to sell it for economic reasons. It was bought and taken to the United States, and before 1814 it was already at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, where it burned in a fire in 1845. Apparently, it was the first painting by Murillo to arrive in the United States. An anonymous copy is preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts in Valencia. In the Rotterdam Museum there is a preparatory drawing by Murillo himself. The canvas depicts the Roman matron Peru nursing her father, Cimon, to save his life when he was condemned to death.