基督与犯淫妇的女子

Bruegel signed and dated this small panel 1565, and he painted it almost entirely in shades of grey. That technique was normally used on the outsides of altarpiece doors, so choosing it for a private, jewel-sized picture was a quiet show of skill. The scene is the moment a crowd drags a woman to Jesus to see if he will condemn her. Instead he crouches and writes on the ground. Bruegel actually letters the words in Dutch at the centre, near Christ's hand, so a Flemish viewer could read them: whoever is without sin should throw the first stone. The faces around her are already softening as they take it in. There is one more chapter to its story. It was stolen from the Courtauld in 1982 and stayed missing for a decade before the police recovered it in 1992.