Cleveland Museum of Art

The Seed finding Good Earth

Philip Galle

Date

1574

Medium

engraving

Culture

Netherlands

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This is one of a series of four prints portraying the biblical parable of the sower, made in Antwerp (in present-day Belgium) at the end of the 1500s. The parable compares types of soil to people in the world: one hardened; one fickle; one distracted by things of the world; and one with an open heart, ready to accept God. The last sower, depicted here, presents fertile soil for his seed resulting in the bountiful harvest seen in the background. He is accompanied by figures representing theological virtues Faith, Hope, and Charity. The sower’s prosperity due to his fertile land and heart is represented by his act of charity, providing money to a passing beggar.

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