The Tribute Money 1568

Titian painted The Tribute Money in Venice during the early 16th century. Here we see Christ being asked whether it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, a question designed to trap him. Christ asks for a coin, and when one is produced, he famously replies, ‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's’. Titian’s painting can be seen as commenting on Venice’s own fraught relationship with Papal authority. Venice was famously independent for a city-state within the Papal territories. The city was immensely wealthy due to its control of Mediterranean trade. The ‘tribute money’ that Venice paid to Rome was often a point of contention and conflict. To understand Titian’s painting better, one might research the history of Venice, the history of the Papacy, and the ways in which the two were intertwined. Art, here, serves as a window into the intricate political and religious dynamics of its time.