Christ in the House of Mary and Martha

religious

Christ's visit to the house of Martha and Mary, taken from St Luke's Gospel, formed the basis of several representations from the mid-16th century onwards. In the religious context of the time, this scene illustrated one of the fundamental differences opposing Catholics and Protestants. The latter sought salvation in action whilst the former placed greater value on the contemplative life.

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About the Artist

Pieter de Bloot

1601 – 1658

Dutch landscape and genre painter active in his native Rotterdam. He specialized in countryside views and peasant subjects, such as Drunken Peasants Fighting (Muzeum Narodowe, Poznan) and Dancing in a Tavern (Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest). His tavern scenes have some affinity to those by Adriaen Brouwer. Jan van Goyen influenced his landscapes but has more figures and is richer in narrative detail. He also painted religious subjects. St Martin and the Beggar (Victoria and Albert Museum, London) shows the saint cutting his cloak in half to share it with a beggar at Amiens; a crowd of crippled beggars witnesses the scene. One of his early interior scenes, In the Lawyer's Office (1628, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), is an interesting record of such an establishment in 17th-century Holland, humorous in its depiction of clients queuing at the counters with children and dogs.

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