The Good Samaritan

<p>Considered the masterwork of Bresdin' s career and one of the outstanding lithographs of the nineteenth century, <em>The Good Samaritan </em>relates the parable of the heathen who aided an injured traveller, whom a priest and a Levite had passed by with averted eyes. The work was first exhibited in the state-sponsored Salon of 1861 under the title <em>Abd el-Kader aiding a Christian,</em> in reference to the Muslim hero who personally saved thousands of Christians from Syrian aggression in 1860. While the event surely parallels the biblical tale, Bresdin probably alluded to the well-known contemporary figure of Abd el-Kader as a means to popularize his own religious imagery. Indeed, the print was so well received that it was published in a series of editions, at such profit to the artist that he later referred to the print as &quot;my good Samaritan.&quot; This proof was printed early in the first edition, before the lithographic stone began to deteriorate, and is one of the most crisp and successful existing impressions of the print.</p>