Christ and the Adulteress

"Who of you without sin, throw a stone on them first.", Jesus Christ is said to have said according to the gospel according to John in the scene presented here. These words are said to have saved the life of an adulteress when she was about to be stoned by the scribes and Pharisees. Hardly a day goes by without this sentence being heard or read. And, just as he became a household word, the biblical passage on which he is based has often been taken up by artists for their works. In contrast to the depiction of Valentin de Boulogne, one of the other paintings depicting this biblical passage even managed to serve Theodor Fontane as inspiration for his social novel LAdultera.