Francesco de Mura

After a brief apprenticeship with Domenico Viola (1610/15 - 1696), and a more formative one with Francesco Solimena (1657 - 1747) --then the leading painter in Naples-- from about 1715, Francesco de Mura became an independent master by the 1730s, enjoying both secular and church patronage. The present copper depicts Christ and the Samaritan Woman, a subject that De Mura treated throughout his long career. Indeed, in composition, it is closely connected with a canvas the artist painted for the Abbey church at Montecassino (destroyed 1944), and should be dated to this early part of his career, to circa 1730-31. 

We are grateful to Prof. Nicola Spinosa whose opinion is the basis for this note.