Woman taken in Adultery
1524-27
Ortolano (active ca. 1500-after 1527)
Oil on panel
Height: 71.6 cm ( canvas ); Width: 87.3 cm ( canvas ); Height: 97.5 cm ( frame ); Width: 112 cm ( frame ); Depth: 7 cm ( frame );
Acquisition (source, method, date)
Lee of Fareham, Arthur Hamilton (1st Viscount); bequest; 1947 P.1947.LF.301
About this work
This painting represents a notorious episode from the Gospel of saint John. Christ came upon a crowd about to stone to death a woman convicted of adultery. Asked for advice, he wrote on the ground: ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin cast the first stone'. Ortolano drew his nickname from the profession of his father, a gardener. His style is characterized by a great purity and a love of contrasting colours.
(Permanent collection label)
Copyright: © The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London
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