Christ Expelling the Money Lenders, from "The Small Passion"

Christ Expelling the Money Lenders, from "The Small Passion" is a powerful woodcut created by Albrecht Dürer between 1508 and 1509. This devotional scene is one of thirty-seven individual illustrations composing Dürer’s influential series, "The Small Passion," which provided a comprehensive visual narrative of the life of Christ leading up to the Resurrection. As a crucial element of the German Renaissance, Dürer’s mastery of the woodcut medium elevated relief printing from a simple graphic art to a vehicle capable of profound detail and dramatic tonal contrast.

The piece captures the furious confrontation described in the Gospels, showing Christ enacting swift punishment upon the merchants and money lenders who had misused the sacred space of the temple. Driven by righteous zeal, Christ brandishes a whip to violently expel the group of men, overturning tables and scattering their coins and livestock across the floor. Dürer skillfully fills the confined interior with chaotic, kinetic energy; the fleeing figures recoil in terror, illustrating the immediate physical and spiritual impact of the confrontation. The sharp, economical line work typical of Dürer’s prints conveys the texture of the garments and the urgency of the moment.

Produced during a highly active period of Dürer’s output, the finished series was immensely popular, capitalizing on the burgeoning market for easily circulated devotional prints throughout Europe. The technical refinement and narrative intensity found in this small but powerful work solidified Dürer’s reputation as the foremost graphic artist of his generation. This specific impression is housed in the renowned collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, representing a key example of early 16th-century German woodcut production.