
Michiel Sweerts
ca. 1661
Michael Sweerts's 'Clothing the Naked' (c. 1661), painted in Rome by the Flemish master, illustrates one of the Seven Corporal Acts of Mercy from Christian charity. A burgher hands clothing to a bare-shouldered pauper while children watch in solemn sympathy, the figures held in Sweerts's Caravaggio-derived tenebrist light. Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1984, it is one of the finest Sweerts in any American museum.
Image source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art