The Seed Falling among the Stones (1574): Art, History and Details

The Seed Falling among the Stones (1574) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Philip Galle (Flemish, 1537–1612); Gerard van Groeningen (Flemish).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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. In this image of the fickle sower, the seed cannot grow among the stones because the man turns away when challenged by religion (represented as a standing figure with a cross). He is accompanied by two more figures representing Fear and Weakness.

Object facts

• Title: The Seed Falling among the Stones
• Date: 1574
• Creator attribution: Philip Galle (Flemish, 1537–1612); Gerard van Groeningen (Flemish)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 2023.128.2

A detail from the museum

The figure representing religion in this image is described specifically as “Persecution,” implying some of the religious troubles during the Protestant Reformation.

Collection credit

L. E. Holden Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.