Caritas is an oil on canvas painting by Flemish painter Gaspar de Crayer.

The story, part of the Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium,[3] was written down by the ancient Roman historian Valerius Maximus.

[5] Wall paintings and terracotta statues from the first century, excavated in Pompeii, suggest that the visual representations of Pero and Cimon might have been common in Ancient Rome.

[8] Between 1638 and 1648 de Crayer's compositions started to display a lighter tonality and his figures became softer and more sentimental in appearance.

[9] De Crayer, however, never visited Italy and he mostly knew their work through the prints of Agostino Carracci.

[4] De Crayer, who neither studied in nor visited Italy, had to reinterpret the Italians' approaches from secondary sources.