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The Good Samaritan

Rodolphe Bresdin1861

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

This is a highly original treatment of the biblical story of a Jewish man who had been beaten, stripped, robbed, and left for dead, and the Samaritan who helped him. This kind act is all the more heroic considering the great hatred between the Samaritans and Jews (each claimed to be the exclusive descendants of Abraham and Moses). The small scene in the center of the large sheet is surrounded by an exuberant landscape teeming with an unrealistic assortment of tropical and nontropical plants and a variety of peering animals. Bresdin used a pen and lithographic ink to detail the fauna and flora of his extraordinary imagination. However, these bizarre visions were appreciated during his lifetime by only a select circle primarily comprising inventive writers such as Victor Hugo (1802–1885) and Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867).

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  • Title: The Good Samaritan
  • Creator: Rodolphe Bresdin (French, 1822-1885), Lemercier
  • Date Created: 1861
  • Physical Dimensions: Image: 56.7 x 44.3 cm (22 5/16 x 17 7/16 in.)
  • Type: Print
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1928.750
  • Medium: lithograph
  • State of work: i/ii
  • Inscriptions: lower left, in stone: Rodolphe Bresdin 1861 (in reverse); lower center, printed: Imp. Lemercier, Paris; center, in plate: RB (within image)
  • Department: Prints
  • Culture: France, 19th century
  • Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. George A. Martin
  • Collection: PR - Lithograph
  • Accession Number: 1928.750
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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