Christ And The Samaritan Woman, esco de Mura ( 1696-1782)

Francesco de Mura (Naples 1696-1782)
Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well
Oil painting on canvas (75 x 102 cm. - Framed 85 x 111 cm.)
Expertise of the prof. Emilio Negro (Bologna)

The valuable painting in question presents a well-known episode from the life of the Savior, narrated in the Gospel of John (Jn 4, 1-30), namely the dialogue between Christ and a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, just outside the gates of the city of Sicar.

Although the customs of the time did not allow the Jews to speak with foreigners, Jesus took advantage of the circumstance to impart one of his profound teachings and, approaching the well to get some water, spoke to ask the woman for a drink, in the presence of the apostles who witness the scene in astonishment.

*The theme was one of the most anciently frequented by Christian art given its strong symbolic meaning: the meeting with the Samaritan woman has the symbolic meaning of the innovation brought by Christ who offers the good news even to those who are not considered pure Jews.

Now observing the canvas in its compositional aspect, with its sparkling palette, the theatrical gestures that animate the characters, the narrative brilliance and the undisputed pictorial quality, we can easily support the attribution to Francesco de Mura (Naples, 1696 - 1782) , one of the greatest interpreters of 18th century Neapolitan painting.

To confirm its certain paternity, it is easy to cite the correspondences with Christ and the Samaritan Woman, dated 1752, now in the Seattle Art Museum in Washington, originally located in the Church of Gesù Nuovo, in Naples.

Having said that, observing in detail the stylistic and compositional aspects as well as the refined execution in the attention to detail we are led to conclude that the work proposed here was created by the master himself (see photo in details).
URL: http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/scheda/opera/65746/Mura%20Francesco%20de%27%2C%20Cristo%20e%...

Here the artist was able to offer a synthesis of the chromatic seductions of rococo and neoclassical influences and presents a luminous and calm version of this episode, where the figures stand out against an exquisitely Arcadian landscape.

The meeting of the two main characters is theatrical, since the contrasting posture of the Samaritan woman opposes that of Christ, according to a scheme that we often find in the works of Dl Mura, a painter much loved in Naples, where he managed to obtain important commissions for canvases altar and easel paintings by prelates and noblemen of the lively Neapolitan court.

In this regard it is appropriate to point out that in them the pictorial lexicon of the most lively eighteenth-century Neapolitan figurative culture is highlighted, that is, derived from the study of the works of great masters such as Luca Giordano, Francesco Solimena and Paolo de Matteis, without neglecting the light pictorial ductus and the colors vaguely pearly resulting from knowledge of the works of Corrado Giaquinto.