Artwork
Landscape with the Good Samaritan
Landscape with the Good Samaritan is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Rembrandt. It dates from 1638 and is held in the collection of the National Museum in Kraków. Created in 1638, this oil painting on oak panel portrays a winding road through a wooded landscape, culminating in distant mountains.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1638, this oil painting on oak panel portrays a winding road through a wooded landscape, culminating in distant mountains. Central to the composition are two figures: one attending to a fallen traveler, the other observing. The work exemplifies Rembrandt’s rare forays into landscape, being one of only half a dozen such pieces he produced.
Subject & Meaning
The scene visualizes the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke’s Gospel, emphasizing compassion and moral duty. By placing the act of aid within a natural setting, the artist underscores the universality of the lesson, inviting viewers to contemplate the ethical relevance of kindness amidst everyday surroundings.
Technique & Style
Rendered in warm, earthy hues, the painting employs chiaroscuro to model forms and convey depth. Bold, expressive brushwork and visible impasto lend texture, while layered glazing creates a subtle luminosity that draws attention to the central figures. These methods reflect Rembrandt’s mastery of light and materiality, even within his limited landscape oeuvre.
History & Provenance
Acquired at a Paris auction by the painter Jean‑Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine, the work entered the collection of Polish noblewoman Izabela Czartoryska at the Dom Gotycki in Puławy. The collection later moved to Kraków, where the painting was seized by German forces in 1939. Post‑war research by art historian Karol Estreicher secured its restitution to the Czartoryski Museum, where it remains.
Context
Among the few Rembrandt paintings held in Poland, it shares the museum’s holdings with The Girl in a Picture Frame and The Scholar at the Lectern. Its survival through wartime looting and subsequent repatriation highlights the broader narrative of cultural displacement and recovery in European art history.
Artist & collection
Artist
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), known mononymously as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and draughtsman.
Tornado in an American Forest
Storm on the Dunes
Forest landscape with a road and a river
Gathering Storm
Moonlit Landscape with a View of the New Amstel River and Castle Kostverloren
Landscape with deer hunting
Blasted Tree
Dirt track near a corn field
Landscape with a Hunting Scene
Landscape with Dido and Aeneas (Storm)
Waldlandschaft
Landscape with the Good Samaritan