Other artists emphasise the confrontation between the authority of the 'old law' and the authority of Jesus by concentrating on the monumental setting of the Temple. Rembrandt's version in the National Gallery (London) is a good example of this:
Burt in the Russian Museum in St Petersburg I came across a very different composition by the Russian artist Vasily Polenov:
Just like Ivanov's "Appearance of Christ before the People" of 1889 (featured in my last blog) this painting was Polenov's 'masterpiece completed in 1888 after many studies and preparatory versions.
The painting includes the contrast between the calm figure of Jesus;
the accusing challenge of the 'elders';
the excited anger of the crowd and the fear of the woman;
It also contrasts the figure of Jesus writing in the sand with the laws of the Temple carved in stone;
and hints at the 'blindness' of the teachers of the law (a recurring theme in John's Gospel, particularly in Ch 9 soon after the story of the woman caught in adultery in Ch 8 - we see on the steps the blind man waiting to be healed in the next chapter and a well dressed figure being led out of the Temple at the top of the steps);
But the really interesting feature of Polenov's painting is the other figure in the foreground, riding a donkey out of the picture and towards us the viewer:
Could this be the man with whom the woman was caught committing adultery? Is he making a quick getaway (C1st style on a donkey!) while all the attention is on the woman? Polenov has certainly composed it so the donkey is heading straight towards us. We are supposed to notice him and reflect on the meaning of this figure in the shadows.
Deuteronomy is clear that both the man and the woman should be punished. It is not clear in the Gospel story why only the woman is brought before Jesus (though we can speculate that in a heavily patriarchal society the blame is laid primarily upon the woman). It may be that 'justice' would turn on the man later, but he is not waiting around to see.
Intriguingly the plaque on the page is this:
In English the title is "Christ and the Adulteress" but in Russian it says "Christ and the Sinner" (I know you are all impressed by my Russian!). The story is of course about the sinfulness of us all and the mercy of Christ, who dismisses the woman with the words "Go and sin no more". The man, having sneaked away earlier misses this life-changing encounter and, not being penitent, is perhaps 'the sinner' left-over at the conclusion of the story.
