{"id":278,"title":"Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple","medium":"Oil on canvas","classification":"Paintings","dimension":"46 x 59 in. (116.84 x 149.86 cm) (canvas)\r\n45 1/2 x 58 in. (115.57 x 147.32 cm) (sight)\r\n60 x 72 1/2 x 3 in. (152.4 x 184.15 x 7.62 cm) (outer frame)","object_name":"Painting","continent":"Europe","country":"Italy","nationality":"Greek","dated":"c. 1570–75","room":"G341","list":"Euro-highlights-pre-1800","role":"Artist","signed":"LC (steps in Greek capital letters): DOMENIKOS THEOTOKOPOULDS KRES E'POIEI (translated Wethey, p. 68)","text":"Christ’s expulsion of the money changers who were desecrating the temple in Jerusalem was a popular theme in Italy in this period. To Catholics, the image symbolized the purification of the Church through internal reform and the expulsion of Protestant heretics. El Greco depicts a chaotic swirl of figures writhing in pain around Christ, who solemnly and calmly wields a scourge to rid the temple of greed and sin.\r\n\r\nA native of Crete, the artist became known as “El Greco” (the Greek) after moving to Italy in 1567, but his full signature in Greek letters appears here on the step below Christ. Set in a grand architectural interior, the scene reflects El Greco’s experiments with Italian linear perspective and break from the Byzantine style he employed in the Greek icons painted in his youth. In the lower-right corner, El Greco portrayed four artists: Titian, Michelangelo, Giulio Clovio (a miniaturist and manuscript illuminator), and Raphael. Clovio had secured lodgings for El Greco in Rome at the Palazzo Farnese, a grand Renaissance palace belonging to the illustrious Farnese family. In a gesture of friendship, El Greco included Clovio in the painting alongside the three masters of the Italian Renaissance he wished to emulate. El Greco likely painted this work right after moving to Rome from Venice in late 1570. He eventually settled in Spain in 1577.","provenance":"Georges Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, York House, London (until 1648, as by El Greco); Sale, Antwerp, 1648, to Guillermo; Archduke Leopoldo Guillermo, Prague (since 1648); Gemaldegalerie de Dresden (1742/1749). Earl of Yarborough, London (by 1857–1923, as by Veronese, sold to JW Bohler and Steinmeyer); [Böhler and Steinmeyer, Lucerne and Henry Reinhardt & Co, New York, until 1924; sold, January 8, for $30, 000, to Mia]","creditline":"The William Hood Dunwoody Fund","accession_number":"24.1","artist":"El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos)","life_date":"Greek, 1541–1614","department":"European Art","rights_type":"Public Domain","image_width":5751,"image_height":4492,"recent":0,"see_also":[],"sort_number":"24     1","image":"valid","public_access":1,"curator_approved":1,"highlights":0,"Cache_Location":"000000\\200\\70\\278","Primary_RenditionNumber":"mia_5014211.jpg","Rights_Image_Display":"Full","TitleAlt":"La Cacciata dei Mercanti dal Tempio","list:euro-highlights-pre-1800":true,"related:audio-stops":[{"title":"El Greco, Christ Driving the Money Changers","_id":"278","objectId":"278","link":"http://audio-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/p522.mp3","number":"522","type":"audio"}],"related:artstories":[{"title":"Christ Driving the Money Changers form the Temple","_id":"278","objectId":"278","description":"<p>Justice is served as Jesus boots the people preying on pilgrims out of God’s house. The painter known as El Greco loved this scene from the Bible.<em>  And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer; but you are making it a robber’s den.” </em>(Matthew 21:12) His multiple takes on the subject mark his evolving artistic style, each subsequent version being more abstract and stylized.</p>","link":"http://artstories.artsmia.org/#/o/278","type":"artstory"}],"mtime":"2026-03-13T09:00:09.514Z"}