Vorwärts schreitende Frau mit vier Kindern (Caritàs) 

Luca Cambiaso created this pen and brown ink drawing of a woman with four children, titled "Vorwärts schreitende Frau mit vier Kindern (Caritàs)," sometime between 1527 and 1585. The subject embodies "Caritas," or charity, one of the three theological virtues. Cambiaso was working in mid-16th century Genoa, a Republic run by powerful families who competed with each other through art patronage. Religious and charitable institutions played a major role in the distribution of wealth. It is likely that this drawing was a study for a larger, more finished artwork intended for display in a church or other charitable institution. Cambiaso seems to be commenting on the social structures of his time. He would have been acutely aware of the burden placed on women to reproduce the family line, and the necessity of charity in a society marked by extreme wealth inequality. To understand this drawing better, we could examine the history of family structure in Renaissance Italy, as well as the role of the Church as a patron of the arts.