{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O347438"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O347438/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O347438","accessionNumber":"A.6-1993","objectType":"Group","titles":[{"title":"Charity","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This allegorical group of Charity, traditionally shown suckling and protecting children, is by the French sculptor Dalou. He studied in Paris in 1850s and was greatly influenced by the French sculptors of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He was actively involved in the commune in Paris in 1871 (when the working class seized power in a brief but influential \"dictatorship of the proletariat\") and fled as a political exile to London where he remained until 1880. With the exception of two works, all of his sculpture at the V&A, including this piece, dates from this period. Dalou had a profound impact on the development of sculpture in Britain.  \r\n\r\nMany of his works are of women in intimate domestic situations. Whether reading, sewing or, as here, with small children, they have a remarkable informality and intimacy. Dalou executed a number of versions specifically of Charity 1877-8. A marble group of this subject was made to stand over a drinking fountain in Exchange Avenue at the back of the Royal Exchange in London. Though the statue was ready by the summer of 1877, the fountain was not erected and opened until the autumn of 1879. It deteriorated rapidly and was replaced by a bronze version. This is a reduced copy of the original marble made for the fountain.\n\nThis is a reduced replica of a marble group of 'Charity' made to stand over a drinking fountain in Exchange Avenue at the back of the Royal Exchange in London. The minutes of the Broad Street Ward record that a sub-Committee was appointed on 3 January 1877 to arrange for the erection of this fountain (which was originally intended for a site in Bartholomew Lane) and the members reported on 31 January the same year that they had agreed on a design: 'A group of statuary in marble called 'Charity' has been modelled by Mr Dalou - the well-known sculptor - and may be seen at his studio, corner of (217a) Glebe Place, Chelsea'. Thought the statue was ready by the summer of 1877, the fountain was not erected and opened until the autumn of 1879.","physicalDescription":"This allegorical group shows a woman suckling a baby who lies across her lap, supported by her left arm. She looks down to a small child standing at her right side, reaching up with his left hand across her waist and clasping her left hand, and his right hand resting on her left knee.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Aimé-Jules Dalou","id":"A3578"},"association":{"text":"sculptor","id":"x43862"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"marble","id":"AAT11443"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carved","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Marble","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Allegory","id":"THES250534"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES397817"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Group","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"carved","id":"AAT53149"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1877","earliest":"1872-01-01","latest":"1881-12-31"},"association":{"text":"carved","id":"AAT53149"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"A.36-1934","id":"O103049"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"91","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Dalou'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"signed on back of base"}],"objectHistory":"Provenance: Probably with Thomas McLean's Gallery in 1897. In the possession of Lt-Col Henry Louis Florence by 1909; bequeathed by Henry L. Florence to the National Gallery in 1916; transferred to the Tate Gallery the same year. Transfer from the Tate Gallery in 1916 (written on in 1993).","historicalContext":"An initial terracotta study for Charity, apparently modelled from life, is in the Louvre, and a terracotta model showing a more developed stage of the composition is in the V&A collection (Museum number A.36-1934).","briefDescription":"Group, marble, Charity, by Aimé-Jules Dalou, Anglo-French, ca. 1877","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Caillaux, H. <u>Aimé-Jules Dalou (1838-1902)</u> Paris, 1935, p.129"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Dreyfous, M, <u>Dalou: Sa Vie et Son Œuvre</u>  Paris, 1903. pp.57, 88-89"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Alley, R. <u>Tate Gallery. The foreign paintings and sculpture</u>, London 1959, pp.47-8"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Avery, C. <u>From David d'Angers to Rodin - Britain's National Collection of French nineteenth century sculpture</u>  Connoisseur, CLXXIX, April 1972, p.238"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Read, B. <u>Victorian Sculpture</u>, New Haven and Yale 1982, p.302, pl. 365"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Beattie, S. <u>The New Sculpture</u>, New Haven and London 1983, pp.14-15"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pingeot, A. and de Margerie, L, <u>Catalogue sommaire illustré des Sculptures</u>, Musée d'Orsay, Paris 1986, p.110"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Bilbey, Diane and Trusted, Marjorie. <u>British Sculpture 1470-2000. A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2002, p. 247, cat.no. 375"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Charity","id":"N787"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"woman","id":"x35642"},{"text":"baby","id":"x38342"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.6-1993"],"accessionNumberNum":"6","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1993,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-15","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}