1704
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery is a 1704 unspecified by Sebastiano Ricci, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows a scene where Jesus is surrounded by people. He's writing on the ground. The people are looking at him, waiting for his response. The story behind this scene is from the Bible. It's about a woman who did something wrong and the people want Jesus to punish her. The way the light and dark areas are used in this painting is similar to the technique of chiaroscuro.
The subject originates in the Gospel of John 7:53-8:11, where Pharisees bring a woman accused of adultery to Christ, attempting to trick him into disobeying the Old Testament precept that she be stoned. In response, Christ interrupted his writing on the ground, stating: "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." The Pharisees, unable to retort, gradually disperse, and Christ eventually sends the woman away with an admonition not to sin again. The subject was popular in 18th-century Venice, partly because magnanimity was an important value, celebrated in…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Sebastiano Ricci (1 August 1659 – 15 May 1734) was an Italian Baroque painter of the late Baroque period in Venetian painting.
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