Analysis Of Rembrandt Van Rijn's The Tribute Money

Rembrandt van Rijn’s piece The Tribute Money exemplifies the idea of being sacred art meant to glorify Christian art through the use of religious motifs, and visual elements. These intended elements used by the artist are not only intended to lift the viewers’ mind on a spiritual level but also are used to worship certain figures within the image. Rembrandt uses high contrast, movement, lines, and motifs to capture the importance of the individuals and the narrative of the painting.

We can see that the central figure is emphasized using the technique of Tenebrism as the main figure is dramatically illuminated by light while other figures and the rest of the background are shrouded in darkness. The violent contrast of both the lightness and the dark contribute to how the figure is to be interpreted in a religious way. The use of light as a way to emphasize the figure can be further detected as the artist has depicted the figure as having a glowing ray of light around his head. Though this Rembrandt has incorporated the symbolism of religious enlightenment as this crown of light is commonly used in religious paintings. The use of this
The architecture depicted in the background of painting implies that Rembrandt has used inspiration from the past, making the meaning of the image even more profound and glorified. Within the background, we can see a column like structure that not only draws the viewer’s eye vertically downwards towards the main figure, but also implicates that the artist was attempting to integrate classicism by referencing architecture from the classical world. The most apparent structure is the column, which is a visual representation of spiritual stability and logic. Rembrandt basing a majority of the scene around the base of the pillar is meant to communicate through visual elements, the classical values of the religious