Belgian Painter A. Mourod, Oil on a wooden panel, 1873, 19th Century “The Good Deed” An original antique oil painting of a wealthy lady, dressed in Victorian style, giving clothes to a poor family living in the attic of an ordinary apartment block. The reserved neutral expression of the child's mother seems to conceal the disappointment she feels at the well-intentioned but ill-conceived gesture of the wealthy woman and lends the painting an ironic and socially critical note. It seems as if the painter wants to draw our attention to the inequality of wealth in society and to the fact that the worldly problems of the poor are alien to the rich. The rich woman seems convinced that she is doing a good deed by giving clothes to a poor family. The child's mother seems to appreciate the gesture outwardly, but knows inwardly that her problems and the problems of the child, who was born into the lower classes of society, cannot and will not be solved by new clothes. This makes the well-intentioned gesture ironically insignificant and even negligent in the face of the problems of poverty.   The painting is painted in oil on a wooden panel and comes in its original solid wood frame. The scene depicted, the style of dress, the manner of painting and the style of the frame are typical of the end of the 19th century. Both the painting and the frame have been restored in the past. The wooden panel has warped slightly due to its age. The painting is beautifully signed in the lower right by a Belgian painter A. Mourot, dating it to the year 1873. The signature may have been misread as A. Mourod, as it says A. Mourot.   Frame measurements: 73.5 cm x 62.5 cm x 8.5 cm Panel measurements: 50 cm x 40 cm x 1 cm