Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple (1571)

Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple (c. 1570), in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is one of El Greco's earliest treatments of a subject he would revisit throughout his career. Painted during his Italian period, the composition shows the influence of Venetian painting — particularly Tintoretto's dynamic figure compositions — combined with the Byzantine heritage of El Greco's Cretan training. The Temple Cleansing subject demonstrated Christ's righteous anger at the corruption of sacred space, a theme with particular resonance during the Counter-Reformation's campaign against ecclesiastical corruption. The young Domenikos Theotokopoulos was still developing his distinctive style, and this early version contrasts markedly with the more expressive treatments he would produce in Spain.

The dynamic composition of swirling figures demonstrates El Greco's early synthesis of Venetian colorism with Michelangelesque figure types, with bold foreshortening and dramatic lighting creating visual energy.