Landscape with Christ and the Woman of Canaan
Artist: Francisque Millet (Franco-Flemish, 1642–1679)
Date: about 1670-79
Dimensions:
H: 37 3/4 in. (95.9 cm); W: 51 5/8 in. (131.1 cm);
(Framed) H: 50 in. (127 cm); W: 62 3/4 in. (159.4 cm); Depth: 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1960.28
Label Text:The story represented in this painting comes from the Book of Matthew in the Bible. A woman from the land of Canaan came up to Jesus while he was traveling with his apostles and asked for mercy for her daughter, who was “grievously vexed with a devil.” When the apostles tried to send the woman away because the Canaanites were not Jewish, Jesus stopped them and said to the woman, “It is not right to take the food of the children [of Israel] and throw it to the dogs.” She replied, “…even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Impressed by her faith, Jesus healed her daughter.
Francisque Millet may have chosen a biblical story, but it is the landscape that is the real subject of his painting. Like some other French painters of the 1600s, notably Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorraine (both in the Museum’s collection), Millet created carefully constructed landscapes featuring classical architecture and a sense of balance and harmony.
Francisque Millet may have chosen a biblical story, but it is the landscape that is the real subject of his painting. Like some other French painters of the 1600s, notably Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorraine (both in the Museum’s collection), Millet created carefully constructed landscapes featuring classical architecture and a sense of balance and harmony.
On view
In Collection(s)