Art and Mercy

The church of the Hospital de la Caridad (‘Charity Hospital’) represents one of the

crowning achievements of Baroque art, thanks to the patronage of Miguel Mañara. It was here, through a remarkable series of masterpieces, that Mañara developed one of the most meaningful messages of the Christian Baroque ideology.

Mañara had joined the Hermandad de la Santa Caridad (‘Charity Brotherhood’) in 1662 and the following year was appointed elder brother, a position he retained until he passed away in 1679. The death of his wife in 1661 prompted him to reconsider his life and the future of his soul. His reflections on the meaning of life, the reality of death and the practice of charity as a path to eternal salvation coalesced into a message that he conveyed to the members of the institution as a guide for living. His ideology is enshrined in the rules he drew up for the brotherhood, Regla de la Hermandad, and, above all, in the work entitled Discurso de la Verdad (‘Discourse on Truth’).