O Cambista e sua Esposa (The Moneychanger and his Wife) - Marinus van Reymerswaele

O Cambista e sua Esposa (The Moneychanger and his Wife) - Marinus van Reymerswaele
Pinacoteca dos Mestres Antigos Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister Dresden Alemanha
Óleo sobre madeira - 93x111 - 1541

This scene depicts a couple sitting at a table dressed in anachronistic and fanciful costumes. While he is testing the weight of coins using a balance, she is leafing through the pages of a folio volume. The setting is an interior furnished with utensils associated with financial activities, arranged as in a still life. Investigations of the numerous inscriptions on the painting show that the subject is a tax collector.
Van Reymerswaele was familiar with day-to-day reality in this profession since, after a second period of training, he also worked as a lawyer. Paintings on this theme were very popular and were understood as warnings against vices such as avarice and greed.