Thomas Willeborits Bosschaert (attributed To) - Jesus And Satan

Flemish school 18th century
Circle of Thomas WILLEBOIRTS BOSSCHAERT (Berg-op-Zoom, 1613 - Antwerp, 1654)
Oil on canvas
72 x 59 cm (90 x 77 cm with frame)

After having studied with Gerard Seghers in Antwerp between fifteen and twenty-three, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert became close to Anton van Dyck, whose workshop he may have frequented. A painting by Van Dyck, of very similar composition, was on sale at Sothebys in 2016. The composition of our painting is very close to the painting by Titian who illustrated this episode of Caesar's denarius, and Van Dyck made a version that is also close in composition and also illustrating this precise moment when Jesus is shown a coin. "Hypocrites! why do you want to put me to the test? Show me the currency of the tax." They presented him with a piece of silver. they?" "From the Emperor Caesar," they replied. Then he said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." (Matthew 22:18-21) But since one does not see a coin in the hand of the tempting man, one can also think of the adulteress with the man arguing with Jesus, a finger pointing to the ther hand !