In all likelihood, Canova executed the two plaster reliefs Feed the Hungry and Teach the Ignorant for Abbondio Rezzonico, who hung them in an area set aside for a school he created to educate children from the lower-classes.

Great emphasis is given in the bas-relief to the figure of the woman who is offering bread to a little girl, while holding her son in her arms, which would appear to be a tribute to Raphael.

The bas-relief was reproduced in an engraving by Antonio Banzo (engraver) and Giovanni Demin (draughtsman): copperplate etching retouched with burin; 300 x 278 mm.