Abstract

This woodcut comes from Passionary of Christ and Antichrist, a famous series by the Renaissance artist Hans Cranach, the eldest son of Lucas Cranach the Elder, to whom the series was previously ascribed. In the series, Cranach portrays the pope not as the vicar, but rather as the enemy of Christ. For centuries, reformers both orthodox and heterodox had employed similar juxtapositions, which drew on imagery from the Book of Revelation. This pair of images contrasts Christ, who drives the moneychangers out of the temple, with the pope, who welcomes them into the Church as sellers of indulgences.

Christ Drives the Moneychangers out of the Temple (1521)

  • Lucas the Elder Cranach

Source

Source: Passional Christi und Antichristi. Woodcuts attributed to Hans Cranach, Text by Philip Melanchton and Johann Schwertfeger, Wittenberg, 1521. Internet Archive

Library of Congress digitized version: https://lccn.loc.gov/24013891

Christ Drives the Moneychangers out of the Temple (1521), published in: German History in Documents and Images, <https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/from-the-reformations-to-the-thirty-years-war-1500-1648/ghdi:image-3311> [March 28, 2025].