Details

Object type

painting

Title

Christ Driving the Money-Lenders from the Temple

Artist/Maker

Hieronymus Bosch artist

Culture/School

Netherlandish

Date

late 16th Century

Materials

oil on panel

Dimensions

overall: 935 mm x 760 mm x 76 mm; unframed: 782 mm x 605 mm x 33 mm

Description

This painting relates very closely to the central section of a painting attributed to Pieter Bruegel the Elder in the Royal Museum at Copenhagen. The subject is the same, the composition outline is virtually identical and most of the figures appear in both works.

However, the style, scale and characterization of individual elements are very different, and this painting includes fantastic architectural motifs on the roof of the temple which are not in the Copenhagen example. Although the work has a signature, and is in the unmistakable style of Hieronymus Bosch (his real Dutch name was Jerome van Aken), it was probably painted in the late 16th century, long after the artist’s death.

Bosch’s hallmarks are here: the fantastically grotesque architectural details, and the haunting caricature-like figures of peasants, and this work can be seen as an attempt to capitalize on Bosch’s successful and highly recognizable style. Whether this was carried out as an experiment, as a student exercise or as a forgery for monetary gain is unknown, but in view of the signature in the lower right-hand corner the third possibility can certainly not be ruled out.

Credit Line/Donor

Bequeathed by Sir Claude Phillips, 1924

ID Number

1586

Location

Kelvingrove Looking at Art