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Courtesy of Bowers Art Museum.Label
This painting depicts a biblical scene from the Gospel of John. In it, a woman shows kindness to a tired Jesus by offering him water from her well. The woman was venerated as a saint in Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, and is known most often by the name Photine, which is translated as "Luminous One."
This painting is a replica, the original was painted by Lavinia Fontona (1552-1614), one of the few well-known female artists of her era. She is often regarded as the first female career artist in Western Europe.
