The Parable of the Beam and the Mote

Art Historical Context

This delicate pen-and-ink drawing from around 1520–30 captures the biblical Parable of the Beam and the Mote, in which Christ warns against hypocrisy by contrasting the large beam in one’s own eye with the tiny mote in another’s. Created in Leiden during the Northern Renaissance, the scene likely shows Christ addressing a group of men, with dogs adding lively detail to the everyday setting. The work’s compact size—just over eight by nine inches—suggests it may have served as a private devotional image or study, inviting close viewing of its moral message. Executed in pen and brown ink over fa...