The Tribute Money
c. 1635
Medium
etching on laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 7.3 × 10.3 cm (2 7/8 × 4 1/16 in.) sheet: 7.8 × 10.7 cm (3 1/16 × 4 3/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.7251
Art Historical Context
Behold Rembrandt van Rijn's *The Tribute Money* (c. 1635), a masterful etching on laid paper that captures a pivotal biblical moment from the Gospel of Matthew. In this intimate scene, likely depicting Jesus instructing Peter to pay the temple tax with a coin miraculously found in a fish's mouth, Rembrandt draws viewers into a moment of quiet revelation. Created during the Dutch Golden Age, when religious themes remained central despite Protestant reforms, the print reflects the era's blend of faith and humanism. Rembrandt, a Baroque genius renowned for his dramatic use of light and shadow (c...
About the Artist
Rembrandt van Rijn · 1606–1669
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669) stands as one of the greatest visual artists in the history of Western art and the most important Dutch painter of the 17th century. Born in Leiden to a prosperous miller's family, Rembrandt transformed painting through his revolutionary use of light and shadow, his psychological depth in portraiture, and his elevation of etching to a fine art. His approx...