Meekness, or Love (oil on canvas)

This is an allegorical representation of one of the eight Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Mount. It and its companion were commissioned in Rome by Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh of Uppark, when on the Grand Tour with his wife and some of their relatives. The idea may have come from one of them, his clergyman brother, Utrick, subsequently Rector of Harting. "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth" is symbolised by a woman gazing gently at the lamb she holds on her lap. This animal is the traditional symbol of that virtue, but also implies an allusion to Christ as the Lamb of God.