Bohemian painter 17th century, Vladislav Hall with the expulsion of the money changers from the temple.

Oil on wood , 66,5 x 76 cm

In the room behind the altar on the right the expulsion of the traders from the temple is depicted. In the foreground you can see, in free repetition, the scenes that are known from the engraving by Aegidius Sadeler: There are stalls on the walls, for example prints and paintings are being sold on the front left, and musical instruments and masks are on offer on the right. This made the engraving suitable for reinterpretation with Christ's expulsion of the merchants.
The picture could have been created under the impression of the iconoclasm in St. Vitus Cathedral on December 21st and 22nd, 1619, when the Calvinist King Frederick of the Palatinate had the Prague Cathedral “cleansed” of Catholic images. In this interpretation, the message of the picture is: just as Christ cleaned the temple, Frederick of the Palatinate had St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague cleaned. With the coronation of Frederick of Palatinate, the Reformed people had high religious and political hopes, not only in Bohemia. The justification of religious-political events with biblical references was not uncommon in the period shortly before the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War. If this interpretation is correct, the picture was probably created before Frederick of Palatinate's defeat in the Battle of White Mountain on November 8, 1620. Oil on wood , 66,5 x 76 cm