Jacob de Backer (Antwerp ca 1545 – ca 1600)
Pero Nursing Cimon (Roman Charity)
Oil on wood, 51.8 x 66.7 cm
The subject of this painting is Pero nursing Cimon, also known as Roman Charity, taken from a legend told by the Roman historian Valerius Maximus (first century AD). The centralized composition and figure types reveal the dependence on the canons of Roman and Florentine Mannerism which marked the work of some Flemish artists, among them Jacob de Backer, whose style is unequivocally evident in this painting.
