How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
In this picture the landscape appears as the dominant element. Pier Francesco Mola's typical golden-brown tones for the trees and middle ground gradually diminish in warmth to the eerie near-monochrome light illuminating the classical ruins and the fantastic figures at the right. These figures seem almost to suggest a group of statues rather than living people, and make a strong contrast with the treatment of the two main characters, Christ and the woman at the well. Christ had asked for a drink from a Samaritan woman, who was astonished, for Jews would normally have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus then told her that he was the Messiah and would give the water of eternal life. Mola, born in the Swiss canton of Ticino on the borders of northern Italy, received his early artistic training in Rome where he eventually settled.
Title
Christ and the Woman of Samaria
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 94.5 x W 128 cm
Accession number
K1584
Acquisition method
gift from T. A. Leach, 1946
Work type
Painting
