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- 17th Century Italian Painting
- Parable of the Wicked Husbandman , c. 1620
- oil on canvas
- 28 in. x 33 in. (71.12 cm x 83.82 cm)
- Domenico Fetti (Rome, Italy, 1589 - 1624, Venice, Italy)
- Italian
- Anonymous Gift, 2004.28
- Not on View
This panel illustrates a Biblical parable found in Matthew 2I: 33-42 of the New Testament. The parable describes the tragedy that befalls a rich landowner who rents out his vineyards to a group of caretakers (husbandmen) while away on a long trip. The story follows that after the grape harvest, the owner sent servants to collect his portion of the revenues. The husbandmen, driven by avarice and greed, turned them away. After the demands of a second delegation were ignored, the owner sent his own son to collect. Hoping to claim the son’s inheritance, the husbandmen killed him. Matthew’s parable implies that just as the landowner sent his son to collect for the good of his family, so did God send his Son to die for the sins of humankind.
This painting is one of a series of parable pictures that Fetti executed at the direction of his deeply religious patron, the Duke of Gonzaga. Fetti’s fame rests largely on these scenes, which combine drama, intimacy and spiritual revelation.
