Johannes de Doper vermaant de Farizeeërs, middenpaneel van een drieluik 1557

Jan van Coninxloo painted this central panel of a triptych, ‘John the Baptist Rebuking the Pharisees’, in the Netherlands sometime in the first half of the 16th century. The scene depicts John challenging the authority of the Pharisees, figures from the Jewish religious and political elite. It's worth noting that Coninxloo painted this image during a time of great religious and social upheaval in Europe, when traditional religious authority was being questioned. John's challenge to the Pharisees can be seen as an endorsement of emergent reformation ideas which were circulating at the time. The presence of what appears to be the ruins of a Roman temple in the background might further signal the passing of the old order. The social history of art asks us to consider not only the image itself, but also the historical context in which it was created, and one way we can understand that context is through detailed documentary research into the religious and political history of the period.