The Good Samaritan (Morot)

Although large (268cm x 198cm) it was originally larger, but the artist reduced it in order to focus more directly on the life-sized figures at the centre of the composition.

[1] It was displayed as part of Illusions of reality - naturalist painting, photography and cinema 1875-1918 at the Van Gogh Museum (2010-11) and later at the Ateneum, Helsinki (2011).

[3] His vigorous and striking style was much appreciated by his contemporaries - Marie Bashkirtseff wrote in her diary: “This is the painting which has given me the most complete pleasure in my entire life.

[7] Several commentators compared Morot’s work to that of Léon Bonnat, particularly in the attention both artists paid to rendering the colours and ugliness of human skin.

[7] The theme of compassion in this and several other paintings in the 1880 Salon may be related to the contemporary discussions about the rehabilitation of the Communards and the need for the Third Republic to go out if its way to redeem those who it had until recently regarded as enemies.