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Source Description
This design for a print is from a suite portraying the biblical parable of the sower. 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 third sower (here, a pilgrim) distractedly throws his seeds among thorns. He is surrounded by two female personifications—Cares of the World, and Avarice (extreme greed for money). Behind them, the fourth sower successfully plants his crop. The content and its presentation exemplify the instructive tone of the period’s moral discourse.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
170221
label
The Seed Received among the Thorns, from the Parable of the Sower
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
170221
contentType
drawing
title
The Seed Received among the Thorns, from the Parable of the Sower
description
This design for a print is from a suite portraying the biblical parable of the sower. 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 third sower (here, a pilgrim) distractedly throws his seeds among thorns. He is surrounded by two female personifications—Cares of the World, and Avarice (extreme greed for money). Behind them, the fourth sower successfully plants his crop. The content and its presentation exemplify the instructive tone of the period’s moral discourse.
date
c. 1573
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80078591
creators
710393
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 19.7 x 25.5 cm (7 3/4 x 10 1/16 in.)
cul
Belgium, Flanders, Antwerp, 16th century
accession
2012.4
Source extras
tec
Black chalk, gray wash, and brown ink, on cream laid paper; traces of transfer
tombstone
The Seed Received among the Thorns, from the Parable of the Sower, c. 1573. Gerard P. van Groningen (Netherlandish, active late 1500s). Black chalk, gray wash, and brown ink, on cream laid paper; traces of transfer; sheet: 19.7 x 25.5 cm (7 3/4 x 10 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 2012.4
supportMaterials
description
cream laid paper
collection
DR - Flemish
inscriptions
inscription
inscribed lower right in brown ink: "avarita"
relatedWorks
id
170488
description
The Parable of the Sower and the Seed: The Seed Falling by the Way Side (after Gerard Van Groeningen, active Antwerp 1563-1573), 1574. After Gerard van Groeningen (Flemish), Philip Galle (Flemish, 1537–1612). Engraving; sheet: 21.3 x 25.6 cm (8 3/8 x 10 1/16 in.); matted: 37.9 x 50.6 cm (14 15/16 x 19 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Christopher Bishop, 2012.80
didYouKnow
The stage-like format of this drawing recalls enacted "plays of meaning," or moralizing plays, performed in the Netherlands at the time.
citations
citation
Christopher Bishop Fine Art. <em>Master Drawings Catalog 2014</em>. Milford, CT: Christopher Bishop Fine Art, 2014. p. 61.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 61
citation
Hautekeete, Stefaan, ed. <em>From Floris to Rubens: Master Drawings from a Belgian Private Collection</em>. Ghent: Snoeck, 2016. p. 79 (entry by Stijn Alsteens).
page_number
Reproduced: p. 79, fig. 1.
citation
Alsteens, Stijn. Review of <em>Corpus of Drawings in Midwestern Collections, [II B]: Sixteenth century Northern European Drawings</em> by Burton L. Dunbar et al., <em>Master Drawings</em> 51, no. 1 (2013): 105-15.
page_number
p. 107
citation
Peters, Emily J., Laura Ritter, William Griswold, Klaus Albrecht Schröder, and Koenraad Jonckheere. Tales of the City: Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel. Cleveland, OH : Cleveland Museum of Art, 2022.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 249-250, no. 78
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
updatedAt
2026-06-10 19:49:01.628000
sourceId
170221
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - Flemish
med
Black chalk, gray wash, and brown ink, on cream laid paper; traces of transfer
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
16faa8f1c3f63f7a