A Dorcas meeting in the 6th century

The unusual subject alludes to the Dorcas Society, a ladies’ society which made clothes for the poor, founded in 1847. The Society was named after a woman called Dorcas who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as ‘full of good works and alms deeds’. The idea of a Dorcas meeting taking place in the 6th century appears to be a fantasy. The painting was the artist’s first attempt at a classical subject and he struggled with it over a period of four to five years.