The Seed finding Good Earth

This is one of a series of four prints portraying the biblical parable of the sower, made in Antwerp (in present-day Belgium) at the end of the 1500s. The parable compares types of soil to people in the world: one hardened; one fickle; one distracted by things of the world; and one with an open heart, ready to accept God. The last sower, depicted here, presents fertile soil for his seed resulting in the bountiful harvest seen in the background. He is accompanied by figures representing theological virtues Faith, Hope, and Charity.

A horizontally oriented engraving in dense black-inked fine lines depicts people with light skin tones in a landscape. At left, a woman labeled Spes leans on an anchor near Charitas and her children. Centered, a man hands an object to a bearded man. Behind them, Fides touches the bearded man's chin near a wooden cross. In the background, laborers harvest grain. Latin text and the date 1574 border the bottom.

The Seed finding Good Earth

1574

Philip Galle, Gerard van Groeningen

(Flemish, 1537–1612), (Flemish)

Netherlands

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