The exhibition “Teacher and Students” of the Krasnoyarsk Museum of Local History presents a copy of the painting “Merciful Samaritan” by Vasily Ivanovich Surikov, made by Alexander Popov. Alexander Popov was a Krasnoyarsk painter and sculptor, a student of the Imperial Academy of Arts, a teacher of graphic art and modeling in the city’s three-year school and drawing school.

Popov knew Vasily Surikov, benefiting greatly from the master’s advice. He studied the art of painting, copying the works of academic artists from reproductions. He was delighted by the realism of Surikov’s painting “Merciful Samaritan”, painted in 1874. In 1899, Alexander Grigorievich made a full-scale copy of it in one month.

The subject of the painting is related to the story described in the Gospel of Luke:

Three characters take center stage: a poor man, a Samaritan, and a black slave. Behind them is a barren desert scorched by the blazing sun and a white and orange sky that heralds even greater heat.

A Samaritan is dressed in light-colored robes, his head is covered with a white kufiya, an Arab male headscarf with red patterns. He does not spare his white garments, but patiently holds the bleeding, suffering man in his arms. Exhausted, with an uncovered head, the tormented man is holding on with his last strength. There are wounds on his body and his head is bowed to the side.

The Samaritan holds his hand under the bottle that the black slave has tilted, waiting for the oil to pour into his palm. He washes the wounds of the poor man. In the background is a loaded donkey that obediently waits for its masters. The canvas depicts human compassion and mercy, which does not depend on religion and church rank.