The Tribute Money
Flemish School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1600 - 1629
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1104 x 1422 mm (43 1/2 x 56 in)
Order this imageCollection
Kingston Lacy Estate, Dorset
NT 1257175
Caption
According to the biblical story Christ has been teaching at the Temple of Jerusalem and the Pharisees ask him whether it is right to pay taxes to Rome. He points to a coin and replies, "Render to God the things that are God's." Christ is seen here in the interior of the temple surrounded by figures, both Jews, including a characterful Levite with spectacles, and those with Roman allegiance, who wish to trick him into an answer that will lay him open to accusation. The interest in the depiction of the subject may related to the then contemporary frictions between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope. THe artist of this picture is unknown but it looks as if he may have known the treatment of the same subject by Rubens, once owned by William of Orange but now in the Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Tribute Money, Flemish School, early 17th century. Certain details - notably the old Levite in spectacles craning forward at the left - seem to have been inspired by Rubens's three-quarter length version of this subject, now in the Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco, but first recorded in the collection of William of Orange. Possibly by the same artist as Christ rebuking St Peter - KLA.P.126 Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20: 20-26.
Provenance
first recorded 1731; bequeathed by Ralph Bankes, 1981
Makers and roles
Flemish School, artist