Christ and the Sinner
Alternate TitleThe Woman Taken in Adultery
Artist
Emil Nolde
(German, 1867 - 1956)
Date1911
MediumEtching and drypoint
DimensionsPlate: 11 1/4 × 9 13/16 inches (28.58 × 24.92 cm)
Mat: 21 1/4 × 16 inches (53.98 × 40.64 cm)
Mat: 21 1/4 × 16 inches (53.98 × 40.64 cm)
Credit LineGift of Jane Wade in memory of Curt Valentin
Object number55-73/13
Signed(b.m., pencil):"Emil Nolde"
On View
Not on viewCollections
Gallery LabelVelvety blacks, sketchy grays and spotlit patches express the human drama of good and evil in Emil Nolde’s Christ and the Sinner. The sinner, an adulteress, leans in from the right. Naked, off balance and brought low, she meets the compassionate figure of Jesus, whose upright, robed body fills nearly half of the image. The stillness of his gaze and the light that bathes the woman’s upper body reveal her fate. She will not be stoned in accordance with ancient law. She will not be cast into darkness. She has been forgiven and told to “go, and sin no more” ( John 8:1-11).
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