Christ and the Woman of Samaria — Benedetto Luti, Italian, Florence 1666–1724 Rome

Christ and the Woman of Samaria

Benedetto Luti, Italian, Florence 1666–1724 Rome · 1715–20
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Rogers Fund, by exchange, 2015; acc. 2015.645)

Benedetto Luti, a Florentine painter who worked in Rome, painted this small picture on a sheet of copper around 1715–20. The smooth metal let him lay on bright, glossy colour and fine detail.

Jesus sits on the rim of the well and talks, touching one finger as if making a point. The woman leans on the stone with her copper jar and turns to listen; a rope hangs over the edge, and a second vessel stands at her feet.

From the text

Jesus, “weary from His journey, sat down by the well” (John 4:6)

A Samaritan woman who came to draw water, and “Give Me a drink” (John 4:7)

“You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep” (John 4:11)

The town of Sychar nearby (John 4:5)

The artist’s own

The well as a carved stone drum beside a great classical column

The woman in the yellow dress and white blouse of an Italian country girl

Jesus in a red robe and blue cloak, the colours painters usually gave him

An Italian hill town in the distance

Details

Talking

Jesus leans forward, touching one finger with the other hand.

Listening

The woman turns her head towards him, her hair pinned up.

The jar

She holds a copper water jar against the rim of the well.

The rope

A coiled rope lies on the well and hangs over its side.

A pail

A second copper vessel, full of water, stands on the step.

On the road

A tiny figure walks on the road from the town.

Benedetto Luti, Italian, Florence 1666–1724 Rome. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Rogers Fund, by exchange, 2015; acc. 2015.645) · Oil on copper · Public Domain — The Met Open Access (CC0). The Met Collection API record: "isPublicDomain": true; The Met marks such works on its website "with the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) icon".

The verses

John 4:5–15So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Since Jacob’s well was there, Jesus, weary from His journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) “You are a Jew,” said the woman. “How can You ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”