When Vassily Polenov was very young, he saw Alexander Ivanov’s painting The Appearance of Christ before the People and was stricken by it. Ivanov showed how Christ came to the people for the first time, and Polenov decided to create an image of the Messiah that has already come into the world and is making His way among people.
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Jesus and the Sinner Woman
Creation period
1888
Dimensions
325x611 cm
Technique
Oil on canvas
Collection
Exhibition
68
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Vassily Polenov
Jesus and the Sinner Woman
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The artist started making his first sketches for that work in the 1870s. To make the landscape and the characters more realistic, Polenov spent two years travelling to Palestine, Syria, Egypt and Italy. In those trips he worked at sketches of people, architecture and landscapes.
Vassily Polenov. A Jew’s Head. Sketch. Oil on canvas. 1884, State Russian Museum.
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Later, Polenov used that material to create other paintings of the cycle that he named From the Life of Christ. This Gospel series became the work of the painter’s whole life. It includes over 20 paintings, the latest of which was finished in 1909.
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For the first work of the cycle, Polenov chose the story about how a furious crowd brought to Jesus a woman accused of adultery. The Pharisees, the most arduous Judaists, asked the prophet what to do with the sinner: according to Judaic laws, she had to be stoned. And Jesus answered: He who is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. The people felt ashamed, let the scared woman go and walked away.
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The artist wanted to make a part of the famous phrase (Who is without sin?) part of the name of the painting. However, the censorship insisted that the name be changed to Jesus and the Sinner Woman. Later, Polenov wrote about the title of the painting: It is neither mine nor true to the Gospel story.
More than that, the censors considered the work harmful for people, as the painter depicted Jesus not as God’s son, not as a supreme being, but as an ordinary person. It is even difficult to recognize Him among His disciples sitting in front of the temple: the clue is the sun shining over His entire figure.
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Christ is sitting in a relaxed pose, dressed in modest clothes. On His face, we can see the weariness of a person who has wandered a lot. The artist emphasized the human nature of God’s son, His wisdom and His love for people, and left all the divine features out of view. All that contradicted to the traditional principles of religious and academic painting of those times.
Vassily Polenov. Sketch of Christ’s figure for the painting Jesus and the Sinner Woman, Oil on canvas. 1888, Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts.
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The composition of the painting emphasizes the drama of the scene. The prophet and the apostles are sitting calmly in the left part. The sun shines over Jesus and the most active Pharisees that are in the centre of the conflict.
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The main idea of the work, according to the author, is about doing good to people and the ability to forgive. The image of Christ is the incarnation of the philosophy of the artist who, in his works, conveyed the beauty and the harmony of the world.
The artist spent about 15 years working at the painting and finished it in 1887. In the same year, it was featured at the 15th exhibition of the Itinerants (Peredvizhniki) artists. Initially, the censors did not want it to be exhibited, but the emperor Alexander III liked it, so it was included in the exhibition.
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The emperor bought the painting for the Hermitage for 30.000 rubles. For that money, Polenov bought a plot of land at the Oka River and built a house. In 1897, the painting was included in the collection of the newly opened Russian Museum.
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State Russian Museum
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Jesus and the Sinner Woman
Creation period
1888
Dimensions
325x611 cm
Technique
Oil on canvas
Collection
Exhibition
68
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