A new masterpiece joins the permanent collection of the Museum of Palazzo Grimani in Venice. From November 11, the public will be able to admire the Samaritan Woman at the Well by Luca Giordano (Naples, 1634 - 1705), a painting that after careful restoration is displayed in the Dining Room of the palace, alongside the Still Life with Nautilus, Lemons, Ham and Chalice by the Flemish artist Jasper Geerards (Antwerp, c. 1620 - Amsterdam, between 1649 and 1654) and the Portrait of Giovanni Grimani by Domenico Tintoretto (Venice, 1560 - 1635). The work, which was assigned to the museum by the Ministry of Culture in 2022, represents not only an important enrichment for the palace’s picture gallery, but also the fulfillment of an institutional and scientific path that involved multiple public entities, in a virtuous example of protection and enhancement of the national artistic heritage.
The Samaritan Woman at the Well was formerly kept by a private company under the responsibility of the receiver on behalf of the Court of Venice. After being declared of cultural interest in 2018, the work had gone into the bankruptcy of a Venetian auction house. The report to the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio (Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape Superintendence) started the evaluation process that ended with the acquisition by the state in 2021 and subsequent assignment to the Museum of Palazzo Grimani. The intervention was made possible thanks to the coordination between the Ministry of Culture and the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, which worked to ensure the preservation of a work of great historical and artistic value. The procedure of declaration of cultural interest, provided for by the Cultural Heritage Code, was in this case a fundamental tool to protect an asset at risk of dispersion and ensure its return to the community.
The process of acquiring and restoring The Samaritan Woman at the Well highlights the complexity and synergy required to protect Italy’s heritage. In fact, the procedures for recognizing the cultural value of a work involve different public offices, specific professionalism and technical-scientific expertise that concur to ensure the conservation and enjoyment of the asset.
The painting was acquired by the General Directorate of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of the Ministry of Culture in 2021 and subsequently destined for Palazzo Grimani because of a historical bond with the Venetian family. A bond that dates back to Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani (Mantua, 1655 - Naples, 1710), viceroy of Naples between 1708 and 1710, a refined collector and patron, who was among Luca Giordano’s most generous supporters. Indeed, the artist spent several periods of study and work in Venice in the second half of the 17th century, absorbing stylistic and chromatic suggestions that profoundly influenced his painting.
The Samaritan Woman at the Well, executed in oil on canvas, depicts with emotional intensity the encounter between Christ and the woman of Samaria, a Gospel episode interpreted by the artist with a particular spiritual tension and compositional elegance that reveal the full maturity of his pictorial language. The chiasm-like arrangement of the two figures, the strength of the gestures and the light shaping the faces and drapery restore a balance between introspection and theatricality that is Giordano’s hallmark. The attribution of the work to the Neapolitan master had already been recognized in Ferrari and Scavizzi’s 2003 monograph, and confirmed in previous auction catalogs (Christie’s 1995, San Marco 2006), with a date ranging between 1680 and 1697. The style of the canvas testifies to Giordano’s assimilation of a cultured classicism, influenced by the Roman painting of Raphael, the Carraccis, Pietro da Cortona and Carlo Maratta, with an evident imprint of the Venetian colorism learned during his sojourns in the lagoon. These traits unite the Samaritan Woman with works such as the Escape to Egypt series, now housed in museums in Madrid, Budapest and New York.
The painting recently underwent a major restoration commissioned by the National Archaeological Museums of Venice and the Lagoon and entrusted to restorer Claudia Vittori, who brought back the canvas’ original pictorial quality. Thanks to diagnostic analysis and the use of ultraviolet light, it was possible to identify retouches carried out not for conservation reasons but probably to make the work more attractive on the antiques market. The painting appeared to be applied on a second, larger canvas, with the original edges covered by stucco. The intervention made it possible to remove these additions and recover authentic portions of the painting, restoring the painting to its original size.
During the restoration, a heavy layer of oxidized varnish was also removed, as well as several improper retouches that altered its appearance. The use of gel solvents and scalpel allowed controlled cleaning, followed by the application of new protective varnish and selective pictorial integration, aimed at recomposing the chromatic coherence of the whole without compromising its historical legibility. The outcome of the intervention, documented photographically, now allows a fuller and more conscious enjoyment of the painting, enhancing the depth of color and luminosity typical of Giordano’s painting.
The new installation in the Dining Room of Palazzo Grimani aims to recreate the collecting atmosphere of the Venetian aristocratic residence, integrating the Samaritan Woman at the Well with works belonging to the historical picture gallery and with paintings of external provenance. The goal is to offer visitors an experience that restores the spirit of the ancient collections and, at the same time, enriches the museum itinerary with new suggestions related to the history of seventeenth-century collecting.
The exhibition of the Samaritan Woman will be accompanied by a conference dedicated to the restoration of the work, scheduled for Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. at the Museum of Palazzo Grimani. Speakers will include Valeria Finocchi, an art historian official at the museum, Devis Valenti, an art historian official at the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the metropolitan city of Venice, and restorer Claudia Vittori, who will detail the stages of the work and the discoveries that emerged during the intervention.
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| Venice, Palazzo Grimani welcomes Luca Giordano's Samaritan woman at the well, restored masterpiece |
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