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Christ and the Samaritan Woman

Creator

Italian Artist · 1667–1749

Alessandro Magnasco was born in Genoa to a painter father who died when he was three. He traveled to Milan in his teens and trained there with an obscure Venetian painter. In 1703 he was employed by the grand duke of Florence, where he remained for six years before returning to Milan. Early upon his return, Magnasco supplied figures for other painters' landscapes to make money. Subsequently, he be

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Date: 1705–1710
Medium: Oil on canvas
Culture: Italian
Department: Paintings
Institution: Getty Museum

When Christ paused to rest at Jacob's Well, a holy site for both Samaritans and Jews, he requested a drink of water from a Samaritan woman. Though she was initially surprised, since Jews and Samaritans were traditionally enemies, she became increasingly intrigued by the knowledgeable and all-seeing visitor as they talked. Believing him to be a prophet, she spoke of looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. I am he, the one who is speaking to you, Jesus replied. Against the sober classical ruins, Alessandro Magnasco gave the scene an expressive urgency with his characteristically agitated drapery and rapidly sketched, attenuated musculature. Magnasco took the subjects of both this painting and its pendant, [Noli Me Tangere]( http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/635/alessandro-magnasco-noli-me-tangere-italian-1705-1710/), from the New Testament Gospel of John. A collaborator probably painted the background of antique ruins in both pictures.

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