\paperw4260 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 This picture illustrates the famous passage in the Gospels dealing with the encounter between Christ and the woman taken in adultery,
a subject that must have been fashionable at the time in Venice as almost no painter of any standing failed to try his hand at it. Lotto manages to impart to it the tender pathos that suited his temperament. Although a sinner, the figure of the beautiful
woman is handled with great delicacy: she is given a languid pose, with her head and whole body bowed. She retains a sense of purity and humility, in spite of the flagrant nature of her offense, when compared with the vulgar expressions, prurient excite
ment and unseemly gestures of the Pharisees around her. Their deliberately disgusting and vulgar appearance undoubtedly derives from engravings by Northern European artists, such as Dⁿrer and Lucas van Leyden, which were well known in Italy and widely co
pied, especially by Venetian painters. In the background the artist has painted a crowd that gradually fades into the darkness, revealing a great capacity for modeling forms in shadow. The light effects are carefully studied, including the glints on the
armor of the soldier on the left behind the adulteress. At the center of the painting, ChristÆs decisive gesture, as he protects the woman with his raised right arm, stems the rising tide of excitement among the Pharisees. With his left hand he is making
the sign of blessing, but upside down, with the fingers pointing downward.\par
