(Memmingen 1640–1704 Augsburg)
Christ and the Samaritan at the well (based on John 4, 726), signed and dated lower left: Heiss 1701, oil on canvas, 67.5 x 54 cm, framed,

Literature: P. Königfeld, Johann Heiss 1640–1704, Weißenhorn 2001, p. 320, cat. raisonné no. E36.

Peter Königfeld writes of this painting, “ ‘Christ and the Samaritan woman’, however, also has its place within its context (he means Tintoretto’s ‘Christ with Mary and Martha’, today in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich), in that one of the many graphic models for this theme, for instance, J. Pesne’s engraving after a lost painting by Poussin, is related to the figural grouping of the Munich precedent. Of particular note here is the ordering of the powerfully sculptural figures with their strongly coloured garments in front of the gloomy landscape backdrop to non-spatial effect...”.

The paintings 421-447 originate from a Southern German private collection, which was amassed over the last few decades with great connoisseurship and art historical interest. The collector, a doctor, specialized from early on in 18th-century Southern German and Austrian oil studies and bozzetti, alongside a number of Italian works of a similar quality. Thus a small, but choice collection was brought together, characterized by its owner’s cultivated taste and knowledge of artistic interconnections.

Literature: P. Königfeld, Johann Heiss 1640–1704, Weißenhorn 2001, p. 320, cat. raisonné no. E36. Peter Königfeld writes of this painting, “ ‘Christ and the Samaritan woman’, however, also has its place within its context (he means Tintoretto