? Collection Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Antwerp, 1640 (‘[no.] 141 l’Histoire de la fille qui donne à tetter a son père dans la prison’/A peice of the mayde that gave her father suck in the Prison’);{Listed in the _Specification_ of works for sale after Rubens’s death, see J.M. Muller, _Rubens: The Artist as Collector_, Princeton 1989, p. 120. Muller states that only originals by Rubens were included under the heading of his paintings in the _Specification_. Thus, if the assessment of the Rijksmuseum picture given here is correct, it might be ruled out as that listed there. McGrath (E. McGrath, _Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard_, XIII (1): _Subjects from History_, 2 vols., London 1997, II, p. 101 under no. 18), however, believes that it or that at Siegen, see below, are likely candidates to be so identified; Belkin (K. Lohse Belkin and F. Healy, _A House of Art: Rubens as Collector_, exh. cat. Antwerp (Rubenshuis) 2004, under no. 15), inclines to favour the claim of the Rijksmuseum picture.}...; collection chevalier Michiel Peeters (1651-1729), of ‘De Sickel’, Kipdorp, Antwerp, no. 7 of his estate inventory (‘Charitas Romana van Rubens fl. 1000’; by division, 17 August 1729, to Catharina de Coninck, widow of Johannes Peeters, on behalf of their children;{The inventory known to have been made by J. P. van Bredael and J. van Halle has not been traced, but the record of the division of the collection, supervised by the notary Pieter Jansz Ockers, is preserved in the Antwerp FelixArchief, no. 2755, as kindly communicated by Bert Schepers, January 2019. The collection was divided by lot by his widow, daughter and daughter-in-law, 17 August 1727; the account in F. Donnet, ‘Un vol de tableaux de Rubens en l’an II de la République: Les collections artistiques de la famille Peeters’, _Annales de L’Académie royale d’Archéologie de Belgique_ 71 (1923), pp. 29-144, esp. pp. 82ff, is inaccurate. Some information concerning the division was given in an affidavit of 22 October 1825 by Charles-Jean Stier (1770-1840) concerning Van Dyck’s portraits of Philippe Le Roy and his wife, Wallace Collection, see J. Ingamells, _The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Pictures_, IV, _Dutch and Flemish_, London 1992, nos. P. 79 and P. 94; it stated that the paintings came from ‘la collection de feu mon père, gendre de feu M. Peeters d’Aertselaer qui tenoit ces tableaux de son grandpère le chevalier Michel Peeters par acte de partage devant le notaire P. Oekers à Anvers en date du 17 Aout 1729; see also E. Hinterding and F. Horsch, ‘“A Small but Choice Collection”: The Art Gallery of King William II of the Netherlands (1792-1849)’, _Simiolus_ 19 (1989), pp. 5-122, under nos. 71/72. Henri-Joseph Stier, the father of Charles-Jean, wrote in a letter of 27 September 1817 to his daughter that the collection had been in his in-law’s family since 1680; see M.L. Callcott (ed.), _The Mistress of Riversdale: The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert 1795-1821_, Baltimore 1991, pp. 324-25, note 2; Letzter (J. Letzter, ‘The Political Exile of the Stiers: A Belgian Family Weighs the cost of American Democracy 1795-1844’, _Atlantic Studies_ 5 (2008), pp. 51-73, esp. p. 66, note 2) records that the collection was begun by Edouard Peeters (1612-72).} her son Jean-Egide Peeters (1725-86), Antwerp, 1763 (‘Chez M. Pieters […] est une Charité Romaine, très belle piéce peint par Rubens & gravée par Bolswert’),{G.P. Mensaert, _Le Peintre Amateur et Curieux, ou Description Général des Tableaux des plus habiles Maîtres, qui font l’ornement des Églises, Couvents, Abbayes, Prieurés & Cabinets particuliers dans l’étendre des Pays-Bas Austrichiens_, 2 vols., Brussels 1763, p. 261. Jean-Egide Peeters acquired the title of Lord of Cleydael and Aertselaer from his father-in-law in 1747.} in whose collection admired by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 4-5 August 1781, and 29 July 1785 (‘A Roman Charity by Rubens’);{Described by Reynolds as ‘in his very best manner: the woman […] is one of his most beautiful heads, and it has likewise great expression’, see Sir Joshua Reynolds, _A Journey to Flanders and Holland_, 1797, ed. H. Mount, Cambridge 1996, pp. 79, 207.} his widow Mathilde van den Cruyce Peeters (1727-96), Antwerp, 1786;{M.L. Callcott (ed.), _The Mistress of Riversdale: The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert 1795-1821_, Baltimore 1991, pp. 324-25, no. 2.} her son-in-law Henri-Joseph Stier, baron d’Aertselaer (1743-1821) who had married her daughter, Marie Louise Peeters (1748-1804); transferred with the rest of the collection, via Amsterdam, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1794-1800; and then transferred to Riversdale, Bladensburg, Maryland, 1800-1816; returned to Antwerp, June 1816;{M.L. Callcott (ed.), _The Mistress of Riversdale: The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert 1795-1821_, Baltimore 1991, p. 1 and pp. 296-98; J. Letzter, ‘The Political Exile of the Stiers: A Belgian Family Weighs the cost of American Democracy 1795-1844’, _Atlantic Studies_ 5 (2008), pp. 51-73, esp. pp. 52-54.} sale Peeters d’Aertselaer de Cleydael (Jean-Egide Peeters (1725-86)), sold on the premises of his son-in-law Henri-Joseph Stier, Antwerp (Regenmortel and Sneyers), 27 August 1817, no. 1 (‘P.-P. Rubens Haut 4 pieds 5 pouces, large 5, 6, T. [127.7 x 159 cm]{The discrepancy in the measurements is rightly a concern for McGrath (E. McGrath, _Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard_, XIII (1): _Subjects from History_, 2 vols., London 1997, II, note 2 under no. 20), although when the picture was offered some five years later, see below, the size more or less corresponds with that of today. In fact, the discrepancy can be explained by the numbers in each units of measurement having been inadvertently inverted in the catalogue. If the amounts are switched for both the height and width, the measurements are 153 x 186.3 cm.} La Charité Romaine […] le vieillard nu jusqu’à la ceinture est couché sur la paille […] il se nourrit avec avidité au sein de sa tendre et courageuse fille’), bought in at frs. 9,050;{Copy RKD. M.L. Callcott (ed.), _The Mistress of Riversdale: The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert 1795-1821_, Baltimore 1991, p. 333, note 4.} sale, Henri-Joseph Stier d’Aertselaer, Antwerp (auction house not known), 29 July 1822, no. 2 (‘P.P.Rubens h. 56 p., 8l.; l. 69 p.[measurements in French pouces and lignes, i.e. 153 x 186.3 cm] T. La Charité Romaine [followed by a similar but not identical description]’), fl. 5,300, to Jeronimo de Vries{Copy RKD1.} for Willem I, King of the Netherlands;{Copy RKD2.} from the Mauritshuis, The Hague; transferred to the museum, 1825;{Then valued at fl. 5300 with SK-A-101 and SK-A-316 in an exchange of seven works. E. Bergvelt, _Pantheon der Gouden Eeuw. Van Nationale Konst-gallerij tot Rijksmuseum van Schilderijen (1798-1896)_, Zwolle 1998, pp. 113-14, n. 181, p. 318, and p. 402 under 1825.} on loan to the Rubenshuis, Antwerp, 1951-77; on loan through the DRVK, 1959-79; on loan to the Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, 2004-11
Bibliography and list of abbreviations for the provenance (pdf)
