The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

The Banquet in the House of Simon the Pharisee

The Banquet in the House of Simon the Pharisee

1738
(1699–1749)
Etching
Platemark: 24.9 x 60.3 cm (9 13/16 x 23 3/4 in.)
Gift of Susan Schulman Printseller LLC and Carolyn Bullard Fine Prints and Drawings, LLC in honor of Jane Glaubinger upon her retirement 2016.47
Catalogue raisonné: Robert-Dumesnil 2, cat. no. 3, state III/V
Location: not on view

Description

Subleyras based this etching on his own painting of the same subject, commissioned by the Order of Saint John Lateran for the dining room of their monastery in Asti, Italy. The lively banquet scene includes an episode from the Gospel of Luke in which Simon the Pharisee, a Jewish religious leader, invites Christ to have dinner with him. During the meal, a notoriously sinful woman enters the feast, washes Christ’s feet with her tears, and dries them with her hair. Subleyras placed Christ and the woman at the far right end of the table, where Simon leans over them, wondering why Christ would let a sinful woman touch him.
  • Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).
  • {{cite web|title=The Banquet in the House of Simon the Pharisee|url=false|author=Pierre Subleyras|year=1738|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.47