A sinful woman is seen kneeling in front of Jesus Christ at the table in the house of Simon the Pharisee. In the words of the Gospel of St Luke, she was 'washing his feet with her tears, and drying them with her hair, kissing his feet, and anointing them with the ointment' (Luke 7: 36-50).
Simon asks Christ why he allows such a woman to do this. Christ explains that the greatest repentant sinners were more deserving of forgiveness than those who had sinned and repented less. Christ is making his point forcefully to Simon, who sits next to him. A man at the end of the table on the right looks taken aback at the female penitent. Others partake of the feast.
Themes of charity and Christian forgiveness were commonplace in roundels. They provided moral exemplars for the domestic, civic or institutional viewer.
The imagery on this panel has often been confused with similar representations showing Mary Magdalene washing Christ's feet as he sat at table. But this refers to a different story related by the other Gospel writers, and Mary Magdalene is not described as a sinful woman.
Physical description
Six men, including Christ, are seated behind and on the ends of a long trestle table. Christ is the figure with a halo seated second from the right. A woman in a luxurious gown kneels in the foreground. She is drying the feet of Christ with her hair. A multi-lobed ointment pot with the lid off lies on the chequered marble floor to her right. On the table is a range of metal dishes, salts and a large flagon. Behind the diners is a wall covered with linen-fold panelling.
The whole executed in black/brown pigment and silver stain on clear glass.
Place of Origin
Amsterdam, Holland (possibly, made)
Leyden, Holland (possibly, made)
Date
ca. 1520-1530 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Stained glass with painted details
Dimensions
Width: 39.4 cm framed, Height: 38.0 cm framed, Depth: 3.2 cm framed, Weight: 3.0 kg framed, Height: 36.7 cm sight, Width: 35.2 cm sight
Object history note
Formerly in the Soulages Collection.
Historical context note
The imagery on this panel has often been confused with similar representations showing Mary Magdalene washing Christ's feet as he sat at table. The panel here illustrates the story related by Luke when Christ was invited to a meal in the house of Simon the Pharisee in the city of Nain. The woman who came in to attend to Christ was described as a 'sinner'. Tradition ascribes the sin of adultery to her. The message related here is one of forgiveness of sins - the greater the sin, the greater the repentance.
Although the details are confused, the other gospel writers record another story that has many similarities to the one by Luke but has a very different message to tell. In these, Christ and his disciples are in Bethany at Simon the Leper's house or at the house of Lazarus, brother of Martha and Mary Magdalene. In this story, Mary Magdalene washes and annoints Christ's feet with costly ointments. The disciples (especially Judas) object as the money could have been better spent on the poor. Christ informs them that 'the poor will always be with you but I shall not'.
Descriptive line
Stained and painted glass roundel, in a later setting, depicting Christ in the House of Simon. Made in the Netherlands, about 1520-30.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Williamson, Paul. Medieval and Renaissance Stained Glass in the Victoria and Albert Museum. London, 2003. ISBN 1851774041
A.E. Popham, "Flemish Domestic Glass Painting", Apollo, IX (1929)
p.156 Discusses the similarity in painting between this panel, 1015-1905 and a roundel depicting a miracle of St Bernard in the museum at Prague.
Timothy Husband, The Luminous Image: Painted Glass Roundels in the Lowlands, 1480-1560, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995
p.176, cat.99
Bernard Rackham, A Guide to the Collections of Stained Glass, Victoria & Albert Museum, London. 1936
p.109, pl.44b
Labels and date
Christ in the House of Simon
A prostitute - represented as St Mary Magdalene with an ointment jar - kneels in front of Christ, washing his feet with her tears, and drying them with her hair, kissing his feet, and anointing them with the ointment. Christ, meanwhile, explains to the Pharisee Simon that a sinful person is more in need of forgiveness than a good one.
Amsterdam or Leiden, the Netherlands, about 1520
Clear glass, with paint and silver stain; set in a modern square panel with borders
of later date.
Museum no.5634-1859 [(PW) 2004]
Production Note
Painted by the same hand as 1015-1905
Materials
Glass
Techniques
Painting; Silver staining
Subjects depicted
Jesus Christ; Scrolling foliage; Dog; Escutcheons (coats of arms); Trestle tables; Forgiveness; Simon (the Pharisee)
Categories
Religion; Christianity; Stained Glass; Eating
Collection code
CER
