Heroines of the New Testament: The Woman Taken in Adultery

An elegantly dressed woman gazes into the distance with a hand pressed to her chest, appearing in a moment of deep reflection. Behind her, a secondary scene unfolds on the steps of a grand classical portico where Christ intervenes to protect her from a crowd of scribes and pharisees. The print is characterized by the elongated proportions and complex, swelling linework of late sixteenth-century Dutch engraving.

Produced within the circle of Hendrick Goltzius, this work reflects the Haarlem Mannerist interest in the psychological interiority of biblical figures and the humanist tension between divine grace and public law. Goltzius and his pupils were central to the intellectual life of the Dutch Republic, often weaving complex moral and philosophical allegories into their religious prints.