Jacopo Bassano and workshop, 'The Purification of the Temple', probably about 1580
About the work
Overview
Christ arrives at the temple to find it full of money-changers and traders. Christ says, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them’ (Matthew 21: 12–15).
Jacopo Bassano has depicted both parts of the story. Christ first appears lashing a whip to clear the crowd and livestock. He appears again in the background healing people. The money-changer grasping his carpet-covered table has often been thought to be a portrait of the painter Titian. If so, it would suggest that Bassano was making a cutting comment about the senior artist’s love of money.
The subject of the Purification of the Temple was rare in Italy at that time but Bassano returned to it many times. He had a special interest in painting animals, so it must have appealed to him. This picture appears dark because, over time, the upper paint layers have become translucent revealing the priming layer of nearly black paint beneath.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Purification of the Temple
- Artist
- Jacopo Bassano and workshop
- Artist dates
- active about 1535; died 1592
- Date made
- probably about 1580
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 160.5 × 267.5 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Philip L. Hinds, 1853
- Inventory number
- NG228
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Nicholas Penny, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings’, vol. 2, ‘Venice 1540–1600’, London 2008; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1775G.B. Verci, Notizie intorno alla vita e alle opere de pittori, scultori e intagliatori della città di Bassano, Venice 1775
-
1852Christie & Manson, Catalogue of Pictures, of High Class, the Property of… The Earl of Shaftesbury, Deceased, and Removed from St. Giles's Park, London, 15 May 1852
-
1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
-
1859R.N. Wornum, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery with Biographical Notices of the Painters: Foreign Schools, 29th edn, London 1859
-
1931W. Arslan, I Bassano, Bologna 1931
-
1932B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works, with an Index of Places, Oxford 1932
-
1959Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Venetian School, London 1959
-
1966A. Ballarin, 'Chirurgia bassanesca (I)', Arte veneta, XX, 1966, pp. 112-36
-
1975C. Gould, Delaroche and Gautier: Gautier's Views on the 'Execution of Lady Jane Grey' and on other Compositions by Delaroche, London 1975
-
1980C. Gilbert, 'Some Findings on Early Works by Titian', Art Bulletin, LXII/1, 1980, pp. 36-75
-
1987Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
-
1992B.L. Brown et al., Jacopo Bassano, c. 1570-1592 (exh. cat. Museo Civico, 5 September - 6 December 1992; Kimbell Art Museum, 23 January - 25 April 1993), Bassano del Grappa 1992
-
1995A. Ballarin, Jacopo Bassano: Scritti 1964-1995, Cittadella 1995
-
1996B. Aikema, Jacopo Bassano and His Public: Moralizing Pictures in an Age of Reform, ca. 1535-1600, Princeton 1996
-
1998M. Heimbürger, 'Caravaggio e Dürer', Paragone, XLIX/583, 1998, pp. 19-48
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
-
2001M. Falomir Faus, Los Bassano en la España del Siglo de Oro (exh. cat. Prado, 29 March - 27 May 2001), Madrid 2001
-
2003M. Spring, R. Grout and R. White, '"Black Earths": A Study of Unusual Black and Dark Grey Pigments used by Artists in the Sixteenth Century', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XXIV, 2003, pp. 96-114
-
2007P. Sohm, The Artist Grows Old: The Aging of Art and Artists in Italy, 1500-1800, New Haven 2007
-
2008Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, 2, Venice, 1540-1600, London 2008
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
More works by Jacopo Bassano
