The Good Samaritan
Master of the Good Samaritan
1537
Loving one’s fellow man is more important than religious belief, that is the message here: a pious man from Samaria – with turban – comforts a man who has just been violently robbed. The biblical story describes how two Jewish priests had walked past the half-dead victim. By depicting one of these (front right) as a Christian monk, the artist was clearly levelling criticism at the Catholic Church of his own time.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam · Image: Rijksmuseum, Public domain · Text: Rijksmuseum, CC0