Rijksmuseum

De barmhartige Samaritaan

Date

1537

Medium

panel, oil paint (paint)

Institution

Rijksmuseum

Loving one’s fellow man is more important than religious belief, that is the message here: a pious man from Samaria – with turban – comforts a man who has just been violently robbed. The biblical story describes how two Jewish priests had walked past the half-dead victim. By depicting one of these (front right) as a Christian monk, the artist was clearly levelling criticism at the Catholic Church of his own time.

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