Drie goddelijke deugden

A central woman sits amidst clouds, nursing an infant while two other young children cling to her sides. Above her, two winged cherubs hover in the air, holding branches of olive to form a wreath over her head. The figures are rendered with the characteristic muscularity and swirling drapery of the Haarlem Mannerist style.

As the greatest of the three theological virtues, Charity represents the manifestation of divine love within the human sphere. In the Neoplatonic and Christian Hermetic traditions, this 'Caritas' was viewed as the essential bond that maintains the order of the cosmos and facilitates the soul's ascent to the divine.