2-969-760 - /Heritage Images

New Pictures in the National Gallery - "Christ Driving the Money-Changers out of the Temple" - painted by Bassano, 1856. 'In the picture before us, which was presented to the National Gallery by Philip L. Hinds, Esq., we have a fair sample of [Bassano's] powers and his peculiar predilections. Amidst the confused crowd of money-brokers, cattle, dogs, and dealers in live-stock, we recognise none of those sublimer attributes usually aimed at in the treatment of sacred subjects. We cannot conclude our notice of this picture without animadverting upon the taste and judgment of the "Hanging Committee" of the National Gallery, in assigning it a place of prominence which neither on account of the artist or its individual merits, it was entitled to'. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.