Veronese, Plate 73, gives another grand feast to his friends (compare [plate 50]). This time it is supposed to be in the house of Simon the Pharisee, as recorded in Luke 7:36-50. The woman, who bathed the Master's feet with tears, is in this case a beautiful and decorous person, a center of attraction.
Rubens, Plate 74, has been more faithful to the story as recorded. The woman kisses the Master's feet and wipes them with her hair, v. 38. There is great consternation among the guests.
Hofmann, Plate 75, shows the self-righteous Pharisee, with his hypocritical friends, more graphically than either of the other artists. His keen insight into character is reflected from every face. Hofmann, above many others, is true to the account, and true to human nature. "Thy sins are forgiven," Jesus is saying. (Verse 48.)
Hofmann, Plate 76, tells of Jesus preaching from the boat (Mark 4:1). Every face in the picture is worth studying. The world is present by representation—infancy, childhood, youth, maturity, old age; the healthy and the diseased, the workman and the scholar. "And he taught them many things in parables," among other things the truth about the Kingdom of God. (Luke 8:9-10.)
Robert, Plate 77, in four decorative panels, illustrates the parable of the Sower, which Jesus gave at this time. In the first the birds came and devoured the seed, in the second the stony ground offered no good opportunity for a harvest, in the third thorns and thistles and other worldly things, "the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things," symbolized by the short-lived mushrooms and daisies, and by the moths, choke the good seed. In the last is the abundant harvest. (Mark 4:1-34.)
