Thomas WILLEBOIRTS BOSSCHAERT (attributed to) - The denarius of Caesar

Thomas WILLEBOIRTS BOSSCHAERT (Attributed to)
Berg-op-Zoom, 1613 - Antwerp, 1654

Oil on canvas
72 x 59 cm
A student in the studio of Gerard Seghers in Antwerp between the ages of fifteen and twenty-three, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert was also close to Anton van Dyck, whose studio he may have attended. A painting by Van Dyck, with a very similar composition, went up for sale at Sothebys in 2016.
The composition of our painting is very close to the painting by Titian which illustrated this episode of the denarius of Caesar, and Van Dyck made a version 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 coin of the tax." They presented him with a silver coin, and he said to them, "Whose effigy and legend is this? - They replied, "The emperor Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Give me the coin. Then he said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." (Matthew, 22, 18-21)
The composition of our painting is very close to the painting by Titian that illustrated this episode of Caesar's denarius, and Van Dyck made a version that is also close in composition and also illustrates this precise moment when Jesus is shown a coin: "Hypocrites! why do you want to test me? show me the tax money." They presented him with a silver coin, and he said to them, "Whose effigy and legend is this? - They replied, "The emperor Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Give me the coin. Then he said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." (Matthew, 22, 18-21)

Ref: BGG8HL10WQ