Christ and Sinner
painting by Henryk Siemiradzki
Christ and Sinner is a large-format painting by the Polish and Russian painter-academist Henryk Siemiradzki (1843–1902). It was completed in 1873 and is currently held in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg (Inventory Zh-5674). The dimensions of the painting are 250 × 499 cm.
The subject of the painting is related to the story of Christ and the woman taken in adultery described in the Gospel of John. Siemiradzki's interpretation of the theme is analogous to the motifs of Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy's poem The Sinner, which was popular at the time. The composition of the painting can be divided into two sections. On the left is a scene of Christ with his followers, while on the right is a scene of a smartly dressed sinner with an entourage of entertaining men and women.
The painting was commissioned by grand prince Vladimir Alexandrovich and created by Siemiradzki in Rome. In March 1873, the painting was transported to St Petersburg, where it was exhibited at the Academic Exhibition.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Christ and Sinner” is painting by Henryk Siemiradzki. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Christ, Sinner and painting, not as a finished interpretation.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16536549. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1843, 1902 and 1873.
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This entry incorporates text from “Christ and Sinner” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.