Getty Museum

Christ and the Canaanite Woman

Date

about 1650

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, corrected with white gouache

Culture

Dutch

Department

Drawings

Institution

Getty Museum

Moments after the apostles turned away the Canaanite woman, Christ listened to her demonstration of faith and healed her daughter of demonic possession. The two areas of focus in this drawing correspond to these two main characters, as yet separated--Christ in the center and the Canaanite woman in an exchange with an apostle at the left. The onlookers behind and beneath the woman and the indeterminate projection at the left add depth and foreground to the scene. A successful artist working in Amsterdam, Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn attracted and taught many pupils. Part of his instruction included teaching his students to imitate his approach to storytelling and style. This drawing was originally thought to be by the master himself – a belief shared by later owners of this sheet, which included the connoisseur Jonathan Richardson The Elder and artist Sir Joshua Reynolds.

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