In Faith and Hope the World will Disagree. But all Mankind's concern is Charity
Walter Langley, 1897
*On loan from Gerald Haddock
In an essay, Leo Tolstoy referred to this painting as an example of “true art”:
“…a picture by Langley, showing a stray beggar boy, who has
evidently been called in by a woman who has taken pity on
him. The boy, pitifully drawing his bare feet under the bench
is eating; the woman is looking on, probably considering
whether he will not want some more; and a girl of about
seven, leaning on her arm, is carefully and seriously looking
on, not taking her eyes from the hungry boy and is evidently
understanding for the first time what poverty is and what
inequality among people is, and asking herself why she has
everything provided for her while this boy goes barefoot
and hungry? She feels sorry and yet pleased, and she
loves both the boy and goodness… One feels that the artist
loved this girl and that she too loves. And this picture, by an
artist who, I think, is not very widely known, is an admirable
and true work of art.”
Leo Tolstoy, What is Art and Essays on Art 225 (Alymer Maude trans., Oxford University Press 1930) (1898)