Christ Cleansing the Temple
Om maleriet
Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple is a painting by El Greco, from 1568, now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It depicts the cleansing of the Temple, an event in the life of Christ.
There exist three other copies of the painting and also a faithful reproduction in the National Gallery in London, which has recently been considered as authentic by scholars in the field of visual arts. Two versions and another on loan from Madrid are titled Purification of the Temple. The one at the National Gallery in Washington is called Christ Cleansing the Temple. The painting which bears this actual title belongs to the Minneapolis Institute of Art and it is somewhat different from all the other versions of this legendary Christian scene.
Oplysninger
- Inventarnummer
- 1957.14.4
Imens i livet hos El Greco
Hele livetc. 1567 – 1570
Venice: a “disciple” of Titian
El Greco lived in Venice until 1570 and, according to a letter from his friend the miniaturist Giulio Clovio, was a “disciple” of Titian, who was by then over eighty but still vigorous. This may mean he worked in Titian's studio, or not; Clovio called him “a rare talent in painting”.
1570
Moving to Rome and the Palazzo Farnese
In 1570 El Greco moved to Rome; on Giulio Clovio's recommendation he was received as a guest at the Palazzo Farnese, which Cardinal Alessandro Farnese had made a centre of the city's artistic and intellectual life. There he met the Roman intellectual elite, including the scholar Fulvio Orsini, whose collection would later include seven paintings by him.
1570s
The quarrel with Michelangelo in Rome
El Greco singled out Correggio and Parmigianino for praise but did not hesitate to dismiss Michelangelo's Last Judgment, offering Pope Pius V to paint over the whole fresco in accord with the new and stricter Catholic thinking; later he said Michelangelo was a good man who did not know how to paint. In The Purification of the Temple he painted portraits of Michelangelo, Titian, Clovio and presumably Raphael, advancing a claim to rival them.
late 1572
His own workshop in Rome
At the end of 1572 El Greco opened his own workshop in Rome and hired the painters Lattanzio Bonastri de Lucignano and Francisco Preboste as assistants.
1572
