Christ and the Woman of Samaria

CC0 Public Domain Designation

1500/05

Perugino (Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci; Italian, 1445/46-1523)

Perugino’s serene and decorous art was widely influential in his native region of Umbria and beyond, most famously through his contact with the young Raphael. These four panels, together with another one depicting the Resurrection, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, once constituted a predella—a series of small pictures, often with narrative content, forming the base of an altarpiece. In this case, the painting that was positioned above the predella as the focal point of the altarpiece is unidentified. The predella scenes depict moments when Christ’s special nature was revealed: his birth, his baptism by Saint John the Baptist in the river Jordan, his conversation with a woman of Samaria at the well of the patriarch Jacob, the Resurrection, and his appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection.

Status: On View, Gallery 205
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Perugino
Title: Christ and the Woman of Samaria
Place: Italy (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1500–1505
Medium: Tempera on panel, transferred to canvas
Dimensions: 27.3 × 46.3 cm (10 3/4 × 18 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
Reference Number: 1933.1024
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/16200/manifest.json

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Alexander Barker, London, by 1852 to at least 1857 [lent to London 1852 and Manchester 1857]; sold by Barker to William Ward (d. 1885), first Earl of Dudley, London, by 1868 [lent by Dudley to Leeds 1868]; sold Christie’s, London, June 25, 1892 (nos. 76-77, 79-80. The Resurrection, no. 78, was sold separately and is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art), to Durand-Ruel, Paris and New York, acting on behalf of Martin A. Ryerson [according to letters from Durand-Ruel to Ryerson dated June 25 and 29, 1892 in the Art Institute archives]; sold by Durand-Ruel to Martin A. Ryerson (d. 1932), Chicago, 1893 [according to the bill of sale dated April 8, 1893 in the Art Institute archives]; intermittently on loan to the Art Institute from 1893; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1933.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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