Dorcas is described in the Book of Acts (9: 36-39) as ‘full of good works and almsdeeds’ and is depicted here handing out clothing she has made for the poor and widowed. Dobson exhibited a similar subject, The Charity of Dorca, in 1854 and the Art Journal conjectured that ‘ it was in consequence of the Queen seeing this picture in the Academy that Mr Dobson had the honour of receiving a commission from her Majesty to execute a similar subject’ (1860, p.138).

William Dobson was born to an English merchant family in Hamburg but moved to London as a child. From 1836 he studied at the Royal Academy where he attracted the attention of Sir Charles Eastlake. He went on to exhibit several paintings annually at the Academy almost without interruption from 1842 until 1894. The Almdeeds of Dorcas shares some stylistic elements with works of the German Nazarene painters, with whom the artist spent time in Italy and Germany during the 1840s and 1850s. His paintings also share the bright colouring and attention to detail often found in the works of the Pre-Raphaelites, although their sentimental nature and idealisation made them more acceptable to the general public and critics than did the work of members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Signed and dated: WCTD [in monogram] 1855

Text adapted from Victoria & Albert: Art & Love, London, 2010