Charity of St. Elizabeth of Hungary

Frederic Leighton painted *Charity of St. Elizabeth of Hungary* in England toward the end of the nineteenth century. Leighton's work reflects an idealization of medieval piety that was popular at the time. But it also begs the question: What does 'charity' really mean? The visual codes here are clear. We see a well-dressed, even regal woman handing out bread to the poor and dispossessed. The stone arch and the figures in the background tell us it is set in the Middle Ages. The composition constructs a stark contrast between the haves and have-nots of feudal society. It’s worth considering what political and economic functions these charitable acts may have served in their own time. Were they genuine expressions of social concern, or strategies of social control? Historians rely on source material, letters, diaries, chronicles, and financial accounts to try to reconstruct the lived experiences of the past. In the end, we see that the meaning of art can be contingent on social and institutional context.