Christ and the Woman of Samaria at the Well

Designed for the east window of St. Peter’s Church, Vere Street, London, this is an elegant example of Burne-Jones’s highly successful stained glass designs for Morris and Company. The entry in Burne-Jones's account book is dated 20th August 1880: 'Window for St Peter's Vere St. Christ and the Woman of Samaria - and two attendant angels. £80.’ The two attendant angels mentioned are two additional panels of angels holding scrolls which flanked the main window, which is also surmounted by a scroll reading 'whosoever drinketh of the water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water I shall give shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life'.
The story of Christ and the woman of Samaria comes from John 4:4-42. As Christ travels through Samaria, he rests by Jacob’s well, but has no bucket with which to get water. A woman appears, and Jesus asks her to get him a drink. She replies with surprise as Jews and Samaritans did not share things. Jesus replies: 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.' The woman said to him, 'Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.'
Burne-Jones avoids tropes of costume and religious iconography by using the classical drapery and dress seen in much of his work.