the story of jesus and the woman who was "taken in adultery" ... and why william blake's illustration might be the right one ...

saint john, chapter 8, verse 9 ...

"And they that heard it, being convicted by their owne conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst."

Blake might possibly be the only artist to show the conscience-stricken mob leaving the temple ... 

The Woman Taken in Adultery: An Essay on Blake’s “Style of Designing” | Christopher Heppner | Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly | Volume 17, Issue 2 (blakearchive.org)

On Blake’s Painting of Jesus and the Woman Taken in Adultery | Warren Stevenson | Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly | Volume 19, Issue 4 (blakearchive.org)