Lazarus and the Rich Man (c. 1550): Art, History and Details

Lazarus and the Rich Man (c. 1550) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jacopo Bassano (Italian, c. 1510–1592).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The Biblical parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19-21) tells of a man who feasted and celebrated every day, while a beggar named Lazarus sat starving nearby. Dogs came to lick the sores on the poor man's body. However, when the two men died, Lazarus was welcomed into heaven, while the rich man was consigned to hell.

Object facts

• Title: Lazarus and the Rich Man
• Date: c. 1550
• Creator attribution: Jacopo Bassano (Italian, c. 1510–1592)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 176 x 251 x 12 cm (69 5/16 x 98 13/16 x 4 3/4 in.); Unframed: 146 x 221 cm (57 1/2 x 87 in.)
• Collection: P - Italian 16th & 17th Century
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1939.68

A detail from the museum

The Rich Man (far right) and Lazarus (far left) are both physically and socially opposed; while Lazarus reclines on the floor, the Rich Man relaxes on his lavish table.

Collection credit

Delia E. Holden and L. E. Holden Funds

Further reading listed by the museum

• Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell'Arte Italiana. Milano: U. Hoepli, 1901.
• Perkins, F. Mason "Dipinti Italiani nella Raccolta Platt." Rassegna d'Arte Antica e Moderna (1911): 145–149.
• Brown, Alice Van Vechten, and William Rankin. A Short History of Italian Painting. London, United Kingdom: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1914.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.