Italian painter at the beginning of the 17th century, JESUS DRIVES THE MERCHANTS OUT OF THE TEMPLE

All four canonical gospels tell of Jesus cleansing the temple. According to the Gospel of John, when Jesus saw the merchants and moneychangers sitting in the Jerusalem temple, he drove them out of the temple with a scourge made of ropes. In the vestibule of a high temple with several fluted columns, Jesus in a red robe with a dark blue cloak and a light yellow-gold nimbus around his head. He is holding a scourge in his raised right hand to drive away the numerous merchants surrounding him. The merchants, with shocked and surprised expressions on their faces, try to flee to the left and right from the blows, some of them with their goods. To the left, the view goes into the depths, into the centre of the temple room with several figures and a large seven-branched candelabra. Oil on canvas. 102 x 122 cm.