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DOI Artikel:Mackor, Adrianus: Are Marinus' Tax Collectors collecting taxes?
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18944#0061
A dr i Mackor
Are Marinus' Tax Collectors
collecting taxes?
Two men are handling money, one of them is registering money in a book.
The other leans over his shoulder with an ugly grin.
This has been a popular theme in the 16th century. The Warsaw painting has
all characteristic features of a Marinus van Reymerswale: the archaic hat, the
faces and hands, the objects, the readable text and handwriting. He is
traditionally believed to be inspired by an original of Quinten Metsijs, which
is now lost. Several paintings of this type were madę by him or in his workshop
under his supervision, with yarious ąualities of execution. They are and have
been known under various names, including: Misers, Usurers, City Recewers,
Money Changers, Money Lenders, Tax Collector and bis Guarantor, and the
like. Others have copied him or they madę their own versions.
Tbree types of Two Tax Collectors
The subject of Two Tax Collectors has been depicted in three types of
paintings, which I shall name according to the type of hats, which the two men
are wearing: both with a richly decorated, fantasized archaic headgear as
shown by Jan van Eyck, worn in the first half of the 15th century, a so-called
chaperon (type I), the writing man with the decorated chaperon and the other
with a simpler chaperon (type II), as in the Warsaw painting; both men with
simpler chaperons (type III).1 The three types are given in Figures 1-3. Marinus
has certainly produced several type I and II paintings, such as the Warsaw
painting. Type III paintings differ from types I and II in many respects, e.g. by
the display of jewelry, the faces are less subtle, there is a weight-box from
Cologne on the shelf, scissors or a parrot may be present and the text in the
book is absent or differs in subject, handwriting and letter type or even
in language (French instead of the Dutch in all profane Marinus paintings,
known to me).
1 The archaic fanciful headgear with the sashes, the chaperon, is thought to be worn by func-
tionaries until the days of Philip the Beautiful of Burgundy, around 1460. A good example of a type
III version of Two Tax Collectors is in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court (U.K.).
3
Are Marinus' Tax Collectors
collecting taxes?
Two men are handling money, one of them is registering money in a book.
The other leans over his shoulder with an ugly grin.
This has been a popular theme in the 16th century. The Warsaw painting has
all characteristic features of a Marinus van Reymerswale: the archaic hat, the
faces and hands, the objects, the readable text and handwriting. He is
traditionally believed to be inspired by an original of Quinten Metsijs, which
is now lost. Several paintings of this type were madę by him or in his workshop
under his supervision, with yarious ąualities of execution. They are and have
been known under various names, including: Misers, Usurers, City Recewers,
Money Changers, Money Lenders, Tax Collector and bis Guarantor, and the
like. Others have copied him or they madę their own versions.
Tbree types of Two Tax Collectors
The subject of Two Tax Collectors has been depicted in three types of
paintings, which I shall name according to the type of hats, which the two men
are wearing: both with a richly decorated, fantasized archaic headgear as
shown by Jan van Eyck, worn in the first half of the 15th century, a so-called
chaperon (type I), the writing man with the decorated chaperon and the other
with a simpler chaperon (type II), as in the Warsaw painting; both men with
simpler chaperons (type III).1 The three types are given in Figures 1-3. Marinus
has certainly produced several type I and II paintings, such as the Warsaw
painting. Type III paintings differ from types I and II in many respects, e.g. by
the display of jewelry, the faces are less subtle, there is a weight-box from
Cologne on the shelf, scissors or a parrot may be present and the text in the
book is absent or differs in subject, handwriting and letter type or even
in language (French instead of the Dutch in all profane Marinus paintings,
known to me).
1 The archaic fanciful headgear with the sashes, the chaperon, is thought to be worn by func-
tionaries until the days of Philip the Beautiful of Burgundy, around 1460. A good example of a type
III version of Two Tax Collectors is in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court (U.K.).
3