Hospital de la Caridad (Seville)

La Hospital de la Caridad
Facade of the Hospital de la Caridad
Map
Geography
LocationSeville, Spain
Coordinates37°23′03″N 5°59′44″W / 37.38417°N 5.99556°W / 37.38417; -5.99556
Organisation
TypeCharity hospital
History
Opened1674
Links
ListsHospitals in Spain

The Hospital de la Caridad is a Roman Catholic baroque charity hospital building near Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla in Spain. The Hospital is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the venerated title of Our Lady of Charity, where a venerated 15th—century image is enshrined within the Church of Saint George of Lydda within the hospital property.

The charity hospital was founded in 1674, and still cares for the aged and infirm. The hospital's chapel is open to the public and "contains some of Seville's most sumptuous baroque sculpture."[1]

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo in 1668 painted eight paintings commissioned for Seville's Hermandad de la Caridad, to which the artist himself belonged and one of whose commandments was to clothe the naked.

Four of those eight works remain in Seville:

Whereas, the other four works were looted by Napoleonic commander and Marechal Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult in 1810 (The Return of the Prodigal Son, National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Healing of the Paralytic, National Gallery, London; Abraham Receiving the Three Angels, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; The Liberation of Saint Peter, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg).[2][3]

References

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  1. ^ Frommer's Seville Day by Day Jeremy Head - 2008 -p18 "Hospital de la Caridad. Founded in 1674, this charity hospital still cares for the elderly and infirm as it has always done, but it's the hospital's church which is worth a stop. It contains some of Seville's most sumptuous baroque sculpture and ..."
  2. ^ (in Spanish) "El Prado restaura "San Juan de Dios", una de las ocho obras de Murillo para la Hermandad de la Santa Caridad sevillana".
  3. ^ Martin Gayford. Please May We Have Our Swastika Picture Back? January 17, 2007