The Story
The Samaritan woman at the well, also known as Photini of Samaria, is a figure from the Gospel of John. John 4:4–42 relates her conversation with Jesus at Jacob's Well near the city of Sychar or Shechem.
Created in 1563 during the Renaissance period, this work belongs firmly within the portrait tradition. Lucas Cranach the Elder, After worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in Woodcut with letterpress text, hand colored, measuring Image and Sheet: 21.2 x 11.3 cm (8 3/8 x 4 7/16 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Lucas Cranach the Elder, After builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
