The Facts
The Uffizi Galleries in Florence has acquired Luca Giordano's "Christ and the Samaritan Woman," a fresco tondo painted around 1685 on a portable wicker support known as a "paniera." The work, presented at TEFAF Maastricht 2026, was purchased and donated by the Amici degli Uffizi - Friends of the Uffizi Gallery. The painting depicts Christ's encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, executed with the rapid technique that earned Giordano the nickname "Luca fa presto." It is part of a series of four tondi commissioned by Andrea Del Rosso, with another work from the series held at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
The Signal
The acquisition fills a gap in the Uffizi's 17th-century Neapolitan painting collection and links the museum's narrative to Giordano's landmark fresco cycle at Palazzo Medici Riccardi, painted concurrently. For collectors of Old Masters, the work exemplifies a rare fresco-on-wicker technique unique to Baroque Florence and signals the continued strength of institutional acquisitions through donor partnerships. The fresco will be displayed in a new gallery devoted to 17th-century painting, underscoring the Uffizi's strategy to contextualize Baroque art within an international framework.
- Artists: Luca Giordano
- People: Simone Verde, Luigi Salvadori, Andrea Del Rosso, Giovanni da San Giovanni, Pietro da Cortona
- Museums: Uffizi Galleries, Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Locations: Florence, Maastricht, Minneapolis
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