The canvas, referring to the period of the painter's stay in Genoa, can be dated around 1625 and reveals a profound influence of Venetian painting and, in particular, of Titian both as regards the pictorial technique and the colors and as regards the formal structure. The work is in fact a reinterpretation by Van Dyck of a composition of a similar subject painted by the Cadore painter for Philip II of Spain, now preserved in the National Gallery in London and, probably, known from the Flemish through an engraving by Martino Rota. This latter fact explains the reason why the depiction of Titian is here taken in counterpart, on the basis of the overturned engraving image. The narrated episode, taken from the synoptic Gospels, refers to the artificiosamin controversy in which the Pharisees and Herodians try to involve Jesus in taking a position on the controversial dispute over taxes and, more generally, on the question of recognizing the political authority of Rome. The Pharisees, bitter enemies of Roman power in Palestine, ask Christ whether or not it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, he replies that he is shown a coin and asks whose image and inscription on it is; the opponents reply that the image and inscription are of Caesar, the image was in fact that of the emperor Tiberius. Jesus, pointing to the effigy on the coin, says "Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God", thus implicitly inviting the Pharisees to distinguish between civil authority and religion. The painting, which was already in the Brignole - Sale a Palazzo Rosso collection from 1748 onwards, came to the Municipality of Genoa as a legacy of Maria Brignole - Sale De Ferrari, Duchess of Galliera, in 1889.
