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The Good Samaritan

by 1853
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 804

This picture illustrates the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, who comes to the aid of a wounded man. Having dressed the man’s wounds, the Samaritan is shown carrying him to an inn, where he would pay for the man’s care. The present version was admired by Delacroix in 1853, as Decamps was preparing to close up his Paris studio and retire to Fontainebleau. Its thickly impasted surface is characteristic of Decamps’s late manner, in which subjects of profound moral import are treated with formal austerity.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Good Samaritan
  • Artist: Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (French, Paris 1803–1860 Fontainebleau)
  • Date: by 1853
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 36 5/8 x 29 1/8 in. (93 x 74 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Gift of Horace Havemeyer, 1929
  • Object Number: 29.160.36
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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Death, Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps French, Etching on chine collé
Death
Multiple artists/makers
1845–60
A Fall Down the Stairs, Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps French, Lithograph
A Fall Down the Stairs
Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps
1834–35
Turkish Landscape, Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps French, Lithograph
Turkish Landscape
Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps
L. de Benard
1823–60
Grands Sauteurs!, from "La Caricature", Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps French, Lithograph
Grands Sauteurs!, from "La Caricature"
Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps
1823–60
Landscape, Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps French, Watercolor on wove paper
Landscape
Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps
ca. 1840

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