The first thing that popped out to me is that the title of the painting was kind of wrong – instead of "The Moneylender and His Wife" the author wrote "The Money Lender and His Wife". It is not a big deal, but a detail nonetheless. Second – I appreciate Mr. Bloom's attempt at drawing connections between the modern world economy and the painting, but consider it rather weak. Reading Metsys' page on Louvre's website offered me more insight about the story behind the picture than reading the short chapter. For example, Quentin Metsys lived in Antwerp – a major trading center between Northern and Southern Europe at the time. Living where might have inspired him to choose such a subject for his painting.
The painting was done during a time when artists depicted daily scenes of people's lives as a way of condemning their vices. You might have noticed the incredible attention to detail in the painting, as well as the rich colors. Those are one of the distinguishing features of Flemish paintings. It helps artists convey their point, in this case – the corrupting power of money. Mr. Bloom also brings up in his analysis that greed transcends time and gender. Metsys shows this to us through use of symbolism. The moneylender's wife is distracted by shiny gold coins from her spiritual duty. Something that I find interesting about the painting, is my own inexpert interpretation of the mirror. A mirror is a common device used by Flemish artists to connect two scenes withing the created world. But I think it attempts to make the viewers look at their own reflection. In other words, Metsys is showing us how corrupting money can be and holding a mirror to our faces implying that we are no different than the wife.
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