Works of mercy with Dives and Lazarus. Oil painting by a Flemish painter, ca. 1550.

1550

1 painting : oil on wood ; wood, painted wood, 60.6 x 97.5 cm, upper panel of text 14 x 96 cm, lower panel of text 40.4 x 97.5 cm

The story of Lazarus and the Rich Man, depicted in the background in the centre, remained a commonly used warning against greed displayed in alsmhouses and hospitals. The combination of this narrative with a depiction of Hell emphasized the importance of good deeds for salvation. However, while this message underscores the agency of benefactors rather than beneficiaries of works of mercy, this example visually prioritizes people with disabilities and chronic illness, including a man with leprosy holding a rattle they were required to carry. This painting acts as a reminder that the visual arts were essential for developing the vocabulary of impairment and disease at a time when their textual accounts focused on negative descriptions of people with disabilities as 'lazy cheats' and even biblical exegesis rarely engaged with biblical narratives of miraculous healing. (Source: Barbara Kaminska and Jess Bailey, Historians of Netherlandish Art conference workshop, 2024).

Wellcome Collection 45073i