Christ Driving the Merchants from the Temple
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.The subject—one Valentin also treated in a work on view in this exhibition—is Christ driving out of the Temple of Jerusalem the merchants whose commerce profaned the sacred place ("My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves" [Matthew 21:13]). The figure whose bare back establishes the foreground plane in physical, tactile terms must have impressed Valentin as much as the quality of dynamic movement.
Manfredi was one of Caravaggio’s most admired followers and this famous picture belonged to Cardinal Fabrizio Verospi, who owned other Caravaggesque paintings.
Manfredi was one of Caravaggio’s most admired followers and this famous picture belonged to Cardinal Fabrizio Verospi, who owned other Caravaggesque paintings.
Artwork Details
- Title: Christ Driving the Merchants from the Temple
- Artist: Bartolomeo Manfredi (Italian, Ostiano 1582–1622 Rome)
- Date: ca. 1616–17
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 63 3/4 × 96 1/8 in. (161.9 × 244.2 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Libourne (France)
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings