''The Money Changer and His Wife'' is a 1514
oil on panel
A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not paint ...
painting by the Flemish
renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
artist
Quentin Matsys
Quentin Matsys ( nl, Quinten Matsijs) (1466–1530) was a Flemish painter in the Early Netherlandish tradition. He was born in Leuven. There is a tradition alleging that he was trained as an ironsmith before becoming a painter. Matsys was active ...
.
Painting
A man, who is weighing the jewels and pieces of gold on the table in front of him sits next to his wife who is reading a book of devotion with an illustration of the Virgin and Child.
[ The couple is not dressed as members of nobility, but rather as well-to-do burghers of ]Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, , where the painting was made. At the time, Antwerp had grown with the influx of many southern immigrants fleeing the Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand ...
. Among this international community there was a demand for money-changers and money-lenders, as international commerce was increasing in the port city.
The same motif was used 25 years later by Matsys' follower, the painter Marinus van Reymerswaele
Marinus may refer to:
*Marinus (crater), a crater on the Moon
*Marinus (given name), for people named Marinus
*Dr. Marinus, a recurring character in the novels of David Mitchell
See also
*''The Keys of Marinus
''The Keys of Marinus'' is the ...
.
This painting was copied in a painting of the gallery of Cornelis van der Geest
Cornelis van der Geest (1555 – 10 March 1638) was a spice merchant from Antwerp, who used his wealth to support the Antwerp artists and to establish his art collection. He was also the dean of the haberdashers guild.
Art collection
He is best kn ...
by Willem van Haecht
Willem van Haecht (1593 – 12 July 1637) was a Flemish painter best known for his pictures of art galleries and collections.
Life
Willem van Haecht was born in Antwerp as the son of the landscape painter Tobias Verhaecht. Tobias Verhaecht wa ...
a century later in the 1620s. Van der Geest was an admirer of Matsys' work and owned several of his paintings, including ''The Moneylender and His Wife''. He also commemorated Matsys' hundredth death anniversary with a new plaque in the Antwerp Cathedral
The Cathedral of Our Lady ( nl, Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Antwerp, Belgium. Today's see of the Diocese of Antwerp started in 1352 and, although the first stage of construction was ended in 1521, has never been ...
.
Love in the Kunstkamer
', by Gary Schwartz
Gary E. Schwartz is an American psychologist, author, parapsychologist and professor at the University of Arizona and the director of its Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health. Schwartz researches the veracity of mediums and energy ...
, Fine Arts Magazine Tableau, Summer 1996
The painting is held in the Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
.[Catalog entry]
in museum website
File:Marinus van Reymerswale 007.jpg, Version by Reymerswaele, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes
File:Willem van Haecht (II) - Apelles painting Campaspe - 2.jpg, Version by Haecht, where this painting can be seen lower right, Mauritshuis
The Mauritshuis (; en, Maurice House) is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings which consists of 854 objects, mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings. The collection contains works by Johannes Vermeer ...
References
painting record
on museum website
painting record
in RKD
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Money Changer and His Wife
1510s paintings
Paintings in the Louvre by Dutch, Flemish and German artists
Paintings by Quentin Matsys
Books in art