The Parable of the Beam and the Mote

Netherlandish

ca. 1520–30 · Pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk; original borderlines at left and right edges. · Robert Lehman Collection

Christ’s Parable of the Beam and the Mote, part of the Sermon on the Mount, was intended to criticize those who are blind to their own weighty faults. Christ is shown admonishing his subjects to remove the beam from their own eyes before endeavoring to clean the specks of dust from the eyes of others. The sheet may have belonged to a series representing various parables.

Artist

Netherlandish

Date

ca. 1520–30

Medium

Pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk; original borderlines at left and right edges.

Culture

Netherlandish, Leiden

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975