The Seven Works of Charity

The Seven Works of Mercy is a 1504 oil on panel painting by the Master of Alkmaar, consisting of seven panels, each showing one of the works of mercy.

The paintings show the corporal works of mercy, with Jesus in the background viewing each, in this order: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, burying the dead, sheltering the traveler, comforting the sick, and ransoming the captive.

In the upper centre of the central panel the Last Judgement is depicted. According to the biblical sources (Mt 25:31–46), a decisive factor in the Last Judgement will be the moral question if the corporal works of mercy were practiced or not during lifetime. They rate as important acts of charity. Therefore, the conjunction of the Last Judgement and the works of mercy was very frequent in the pictorial tradition of Christian art, especially in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Era.

The Seven Works of Mercy not only explains what the Bible says about virtuous de…

摘自英文维基百科「The Seven Works of Mercy (Master of Alkmaar)」（CC BY-SA 4.0），暂时没有中文条目。