Christ and the Samaritan Woman
1718
Medium
pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 18.9 × 14 cm (7 7/16 × 5 1/2 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
The Edith Tanenbaum Rudolf Collection
Accession Number
2018.26.23
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
In the intimate drawing *Christ and the Samaritan Woman (1718), Venetian Baroque master Sebastiano Ricci captures a biblical moment from the Gospel of John, where Jesus converses with a Samaritan woman at the well Created late in Ricci's career, this work reflects the artist's flair for dramatic narratives and fluid figures, hallmarks of Venice's vibrant late-Baroque and emerging Rococo styles. Ricci, a pupil of Sebastiano Mazzoni and influenced by Veronese and Tiepolo, often produced such preparatory sketches to refine compositions for larger paintings, blending spiritual depth with theatrica...
About the Artist
Sebastiano Ricci · 1659–1734
Sebastiano Ricci (1659–1734) was born in Belluno, in the Venetian Republic, and received his early training in Venice, where he was apprenticed at age twelve to the Milanese painter Federico Cervelli. Some accounts identify Sebastiano Mazzoni as his first master. A youthful scandal involving an unintended pregnancy and a charge of attempted poisoning led to imprisonment in 1678, from which he was ...