Jesus and the Sinner Woman

Jewish scribes and Pharisees bring an adultress before Jesus, who was busy teaching his group. The scribes want to embarrass Jesus: if he adheres to the law, the woman would have to be stoned; if he sticks to his own principles, he would be breaking the law.

After a while he comes up with the famous answer: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." One by one the men leave the scene.

Polenov was a gifted painter of landscapes. He made this painting, which some consider his masterpiece, after traveling to the Middle East in the early 1880s.