The Feeding of the Five Thousand

Murillo's Feeding of the Five Thousand (Hermandad de la Caridad, Seville) represents one of the six Acts of Mercy:  feeding the hungry.  Crammed full of figures this painting is an antidote to Valdes Leal's Vanitas (see earlier post).

Christ healing the Paralytic

Murillo's Christ Healing the Paralytic (Hermandad de la Caridad, Seville) represents one of the six Acts of Mercy.  This picture shows a cause particularly relevant to the Caridad - the visitation of the sick.  The illustration is taken from John's gospel.

"Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.  For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.  And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.  When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?  The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.  Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk."

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Murillo's Return of the Prodigal Son (Hermandad de la Caridad, Seville) depicts one of the six Acts of Mercy.  Although usually associated with the key message of forgiveness, here it represents Clothing the Naked.

The Liberation of St Peter

Murillo's Liberation of St Peter (Hermandad de la Caridad, Seville) is from his series depicting the six Acts of Mercy.  This one represents the ministering to prisoners.  St Peter wears a blue tunic with a yellow mantle and sits in the middle of the prison floor, looking at an angel who takes his arm and points to a way of escape.  Architecture and sleeping guards appear in the background.

"Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.  Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him.  Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.  They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating." "

Abraham and the Three Angels

Murillo's Abraham and the Three Angels at the Hermandad de la Caridad, Seville, represents one of the six Acts of Mercy: the taking in of strangers. Three angels advance from the left, dressed as pilgrims they hold staves. Abraham, in a turban, kneels before them amd indicates with his handshis own houseon the right, which he invites themto enter. It's relevant that this painting would be one of the first Acts of Mercy to be seen. It is a sign of welcome to newcomers to the church, an indication of the benevolence of the Brothers.

Who could join the Caridad?

Membership to the Caridad (see earlier post) was generally restricted to those in the upper echelons of society.  It took Murillo five years before he was accepted as a member, and even then it was specifically on the condition that he carried out commissions for paintings in the Church of San Jorge Seville.  Although painters were of a low social status, on a par with carpenters, Murillo was Seville's leading artist at that time, which gave him greater social mobility.  His calm, warm style with deep colours was a complete contrast to Leal's dour warnings that greeted entrants to the Hermandad de la Caridad.  His contribution was his paintings of the six Acts of Mercy, each representing a specific charitable act, which the Brothers of the Caridad would be expected to do.

The paintings are as follows:  Abraham and the Three Angels (welcoming strangers), The Liberation of St Peter (ministering to prisoners), Return of the Prodigal Son (clothing the naked), Christ healing the paralytic (visitation of the sick), Moses sweetening the waters of Marah (quenching the thirsty) and The feeding of the Five Thousand (feeding the Hungry).

The background to the Mercy painting relating to quenching the thirsty is as follows:

"When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"

"Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. 
      There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."

This series is an antidote to  Valdes Leal's to hieroglyphs about death and judgement which would be seen on entry to the Hermandad de la Caridad.  They proclaim the power of Christian virtue and show that by following these examples death need not be so fearsome a threat.  The actions depicted prevent the deaths of the poor and unfortunate, while ensuring the death of the do-gooder himself will not lead to suffering. 

Forget the honours and status of life!

Finis Gloriae Mundi, like Valdes Leal's In Ictu Oculi, shows the uselessness of earthly glory and is based on the oriental legend of "The Three Living and the Three Dead". One of the three dead said to one of the three living "what you are, we were, what we are, you will become".

In this painting Valdes Leal has depicted the three dead. The dank, fetid atmosphere of the tomb is created by the diminishing half light and the sombre colours. The dead bishop is still decked in his costume while his flesh crawls with bugs. Worms devour the rotting flesh of the dead knight and the remains of a king are just visible in the obscurity of the crypt. We can almost hear "the gnawing of termites and worms" in the echoing silence around the bodies. A passage from Miguel Manara's Discurso de la Verdad is particularly applicable to this painting:

"If you remember that you will be covered with earth and stepped on by all, you will easily forget the honours and status of this life. Remember also the vile worms that will eat your body and how ugly and abominable you will be in the grave, and how those eyes that will be reading these words will be eaten by the earth, and how those hands will be devoured and left dry, and how the silks and finery that you have today will be converted into a rotten shroud, your amber into a stench, your beauty and grace into worms, your family and greatness into the greatest loneliness imaginable"

It is uncanny that when Manara's tomb was opened seven months after his death in 1679, his body was discovered in perfect condition, entirely uncorrupted.

A stigmatised hand holds the scales for the judgement of the soul. Animals representing the seven deadly sins fill one pan, while it is balanced by prayer books and penitentials in the other. This illustrates the notion that prayer and repentance off set sin. There are two mottoes inscribed on each balance. Nothing more (ni mas) than sin is needed for damnation; nothing less (ni menos) is needed for salvation than prayer and penance. The pan with the prayer books, scourge and hair shirt contains the bare minimum to balance the seven deadly sins, while something more is needed to tip the scales in favour of salvation. Although modern viewers might think the following from I John would inspire the contents of the opposite pan:

"Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins" it is here Charity that sets the scales in favour of Salvation.