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Source Description

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).

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
110123
label
The Good Samaritan
core
obj
dtoType
print
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
110123
contentType
print
title
The Good Samaritan
description
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).
date
1861
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80002433
creators
25686
68489
genreSpecific
Print
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Image: 56.7 x 44.3 cm (22 5/16 x 17 7/16 in.)
cul
France, Paris
accession
1928.75
Source extras
tec
lithograph
tombstone
The Good Samaritan, 1861. Rodolphe Bresdin (French, 1822–1885), Lemercier. Lithograph; image: 56.7 x 44.3 cm (22 5/16 x 17 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. George A. Martin, 1928.750
supportMaterials
description
chine appliqué
collection
PR - Lithograph
stateOfTheWork
i/ii
inscriptions
inscription
lower left, in stone: Rodolphe Bresdin 1861 (in reverse); lower center, printed: Imp. Lemercier, Paris; center, in plate: RB (within image)
didYouKnow
Rodolphe Bresdin was known in his time as "Chien-Caillou" after the impoverished artist who served as the protagonist in an 1845 novel with the same title.
citations
citation
"Some Phases of the Romantic Movement." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>16, no. 3 (March 1929): 43-46, 49-51
page_number
Mentioned: p. 46; Reproduced: p. 49
citation
<em>Catalogue of an exhibition of the art of lithography: commemorating the sesquicentennial of its invention, 1798-1948</em>. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, November 11, 1948-January 2, 1949.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 22
catalogueRaisonne
van Gelder 100
creditline
Gift of Mrs. George A. Martin
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:51:41.539000
sourceId
110123
dept
Prints
coll
PR - Lithograph
med
lithograph
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
8d54842e2876d96b