The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 10, 2024

Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well

Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well

c. 1500–1530
(Italian, 1469–1529/30)
Italy, Tuscany, Florence, 16th century
polychromed terracotta
Overall: 221 x 177.8 x 27.9 cm (87 x 70 x 11 in.)
Gift of Samuel Mather 1922.210
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The Samaritan woman’s bust was replaced by a reproduction before entering the museum’s collection.

Description

This sculptural relief belongs to a large series made for the Franciscan friary of San Vivaldo (founded 1350) in the Tuscan hills southwest of Florence. The friary was enlarged between 1500 and 1530 when 32 chapels were built, each dedicated to an incident in the life or Passion of Christ. San Vivaldo became a recognized pilgrimage site thematically linked to the holy sites of Jerusalem. Each single chapel at San Vivaldo was embellished with colorful terracotta sculptures produced by the Della Robbia workshop in Florence. This relief representing Christ and the Samaritan Woman was originally installed within the Chapel of the Samaritan Women. Over time the chapel fell into disrepair and eventually became the friar's wash house. The sculpture was sold by the friary in the early 1900s to fund repairs to the various chapels. The fine modeling of the heads of Christ and the Apostles and of the landscape masses gives an indication of the original quality of this badly damaged relief sculpture. The animation of the faces and complexity of the composition suggest that it was made under the supervision of Giovanni rather than by some lesser member of the Della Robbia workshop.
  • -1911/12
    Sacro Monte di San Vivaldo, Tuscany, Italy, sold to Elia Volpi
    1911/12-
    (Elia Volpi (1858–1938), Florence, Italy)
    By 1922
    (Maurice (1879-1950) and Raphaël (1887-1963) Stora, Paris, France)
    -1922
    Samuel Mather [1851-1931] Cleveland, OH, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art.
    1922-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Milliken, William. "A Relief by Giovanni della Robbia, Given by Samuel Mather." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art X, no. 1 (January 1923): 3-6. Reproduced: cover
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 19 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. Reproduced: p. 19 archive.org
    Marquand, Allan, Della, Family Robbia, Frank Jewett Mather, and Charles Rufus Morey. The Brothers of Giovanni Della Robbia: Fra Mattia, Luca, Girolamo, Fra Ambrogio. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1928. Reproduced: p. 36, fig. 59
    Coe, Nancy. The History of the Collecting of European Paintings and Drawings in the City of Cleveland. Thesis M.A. Oberlin College, 1955. Reproduced: p. 158
    Pillsbury, Edmund P. Florence and the Arts; Five Centuries of Patronage. 1971. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1971. Reproduced: no. 32
    Civilini, Luigi. San Vivaldo: Jerusalem in Tuscany. San Vivaldo, Italy: Convento Francescano, 1990. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 3, 46-47
    Ferrazza, Roberta. Palazzo Davanzati e le collezioni di Elia Volpi. Firenze, Italy: Centro di, 1993. Reproduced: p. 112, fig. 107
    Wharton, Annabel Jane. Selling Jerusalem: Relics, Replicas, Theme Parks. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2006. Reproduced: p. 127, fig. 38
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 174-175
    Korkow, Cory. “(Re)search and (Re)store.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 10-11. Reproduced: P. 11; Mentioned: P. 10-11.
  • Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
    Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971).
  • {{cite web|title=Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well|url=false|author=Giovanni della Robbia|year=c. 1500–1530|access-date=10 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1922.210