Christ driving the Money Changers from the Temple

The subject is taken from John II:13-15.
This hitherto unknown painting is to be dated to circa 1570/75, and is thus an addition to Pieter Aertsen's last phase of activity. It is to be compared with the Christ in the House of Martha and Mary in the Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent (W. Kloek, "Pieter Aertsen en het probleem van het samenstellen van zijn oeuvre" in Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, XL, 1990, p.6, fig.6), which is on a similar support. Kloek dates this slightly earlier than the pictures of Aertsen's last year: The Seven Acts of Mercy, National Museum, Warsaw (M. Bijl, "Aertsen in het Restauratie-atelier van het Rijksmuseum" in Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, XL, 1990, p.215, fig.26); The Healing of the Lame at Bethesda in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (J.P. Filedt Kok et. al., Kunst voor de Beeldenstorm, 1986, p.356, fig.238A) and it's pendant Peter and John Healing a Lame at the Hermitage (N. Nikulin, 15th and 16th Century Netherlandish Painting in Soviet Museums, 1987, n0153). Characteristic of these late works are the complex compositions, in which the protagonists inhabit different planes, separated by architectural motifs. The motif of the diagonally set table occurs also in the Parable of the Royal Wedding of about the same time at Castle de Haar; Christie's sale on the premises, 13 October 1998, lot 44, ill. Also in that picture a comtemporary scene, like the quack here, is depicted in the background. The architecture is probably inspired by Sebastiano Serlio's Generale Regelen der Architecturen, 1539 (see J.P. Filedt Kok et. al., Kunst voor de Beeldenstorm, exh. cat., 1986, pp.238/9).
The attribution of the present lot to Pieter Aertsen was kindly confirmed by W. Kloek after inspection of the original on 3 March 1998. We would like to thank him for his help in cataloguing this lot.