Christ and the woman taken into adultery

Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery, painted around 1630, depicts the scene from John chapter 8 in which Jesus challenged the Pharisees to cast the first stone. The subject was popular among Caravaggist painters because the dramatic confrontation between mercy and judgment lent itself to the psychological intensity and stark moral contrasts that chiaroscuro lighting could express visually. Stom's mastery of candlelight effects was among the most technically accomplished of all Caravaggist painters, surpassing many of his contemporaries in the subtlety of his graduated shadows and the warmth of his artificial illumination.

The multi-figure composition groups accusers and accused around the central figure of Christ, with the lighting creating a moral geography — Christ illuminated as the source of mercy while the accusers partially retreat into shadow.