The Moneylender and his Wife

The Beaux-Arts museum in Valenciennes (North of France) has a painting labelled « The Banker and his wife » (from Marinus van Reymerswaele).

« The Banker and his wife » Oil on wood panel 80.5 x 115 cm - from Marinus van Reymerswaele

The notice for the painting explained that it derived from the Quentin Metsys’s painting hung in the Louvre museum in Paris and that there are at least 25 version of this painting from students or followers of Reymerswaele.

The Moneylender and his Wife (1514) by Quentin Matsys - Oil on panel, (71 x 68 cm) - Musée du Louvre, Paris. Source: Wikimedia 

Quentin Matsys was a painter in the Flemish tradition and a founder of the Antwerp school.

I managed to trace some of the versions of the painting, but it was not easy as the paintings have slightly different titles: “The money changer and his wife”, “The banker and his wife” or “The tax collector and his wife”.

Some times ago, I took a photograph of a similar painting in Munich ( in the collection of Munich's Alte Pinakothek), so I knew there was one there.

The money changer and his wife (1541) oil on panel by Marinus van Reymerswale

Alte Pinakothek – Source: Wikimedia

The moneychanger and his wife (1539) Oil on wood (83 cm x 97 cm) by Marinus van Reymerswaele, Museo del Prado, Madrid - Source: Wikimedia 

 The notice on the Prado’s website states that they hold a very similar version, by the same artist, which was in El Escorial monastery. This other painting measures 79 x 107 cm, is signed and dated 1538.

There is another one at the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Tax Collector and His Wife by Marinus van Reymerswale - Statens Museum for Kunst. Source: Wikimedia