Full Record |
| Title |
Christ Tempted in the Wilderness |
| Collection |
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
| Artist |
Bril, Paul (Flemish landscapist and fresco painter, 1554-1626, active in Rome) |
| Date |
1626 (dated) |
| Signed |
yes |
| Description |
The seated figure of Christ holds his hand up to rebuke Satan, shown as an old man with horns who offers him two full purses. In the Matthew's version of this story, Christ went into the desert to fast for forty days and forty nights during which time, the Devil tried to tempt him. However, here both figures are dwarfed by a magnificent landscape. Far from being a 'wilderness' as we imagine it, the landscape includes a herd of cows driven over a hill by two cow herds, a castle and figures walking towards a distant citadel. |
| Current Accession Number |
1963P10 |
| Former Accession Number |
P.10´63 |
| Inscription |
front ll (on rock) 'Pavolv Brill 1626' |
| Subject |
religion (Temptation of Christ); landscape (pastoral); animal (cattle, deer) |
| Measurements |
120.6 x 149.2 cm cm (estimate) |
| Material |
oil on canvas |
| Acquisition Details |
Purchased from P. & D. Colnaghi Co. Ltd 1963. |
| Provenance |
Christie's sale, 1 December 1827, lot 92 as Christ and the Tempter in the Wilderness, bought by Taylor, £2.10 (?). |
| Principal Exhibitions |
Paintings by Old Masters, Colnaghi's, 1963, cat. no. 10, pl.1. |
| Publications |
Apollo, vol. 77, 1963, p. 497, fig. 3; Foreign Paintings in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, A Summary Catalogue, 1983, no. 18, ill. |
| Rights Owner |
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
| Author |
Dr Patricia Smyth |
|
