Feed the Hungry

In all likelihood, Canova executed the two plaster reliefs Feed the Hungry and Teach the Ignorant for Abbondio Rezzonico, who hung them in an area set aside for a school he created to educate children from the lower-classes. Great emphasis is given in the bas-relief to the figure of the woman who is offering bread to a little girl, while holding her son in her arms, which would appear to be a tribute to Raphael. The bas-relief was reproduced in an engraving by Antonio Banzo (engraver) and Giovanni Demin (draughtsman): copperplate etching retouched with burin; 300 x 278 mm.