Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple
follower of Unknown (1440–1516)
earlier ascribed to Pieter Bruegel (I) (Flemish, 1526–1569)
1570-1670
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- height 102 cm, width 155.5 cm, height 128.5 cm, width 181.5 cm
- Museum
- SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark: SMK waives its rights in this photograph, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
About this work
The painting is one out of four almost identical Dutch paintings. The four paintings show Christ driving the traders from the temple and represent four versions of the same subject. These are stories about morality, illustrated through enigmatic scenes in and around the temple, all playing on messages about religious conflicts and the contrasts between rich and poor, the learned and the ignorant. All of it set within a multi-ethnic society that almost seems to prefigure our own. Bosch, Bruegel or? We do not know who painted the four panels. The materials and techniques employed point towards the two artists Hieronymus Bosch (circa 1450-1516) and Pieter Bruegel the Elder (circa 1527-1569), but at the time copying – of subjects and techniques alike – was widely practised. We cannot determine the true authors behind the paintings simply by looking at them, but the conservators can probe below the surface and help reveal the painting’s origins. In 2010 SMK began a study of the paintings together with Kadriorg Art Museum in Tallinn, Glasgow Museums, University of Glasgow and CATS to determine the four paintings' origins. The study of the paintings The study of the four paintings began…
