Marinus van Reymerswaele (adoption) (ca.1490/1495-ca.1546/1556), Tax collectors, 1st half of the 16th century.

Biography
"Tax Collectors" by Marinus van Reymerswaele is a work of didactic significance, stigmatizing greed and corruption. It shows the interior of a city clerk's office, recording the amount of money handed over to him. The glasses on his nose are meant to emphasize meticulousness and clarity of judgment. Next to him sits a man who is a tax collector, whose face is twisted by a grimace of anger. With his finger, he points to an account book where the amount of fees he has collected is fairly accounted for. Probably his companion remained deaf to the suggestion of corruption. The elegant red headgear of the honest official, refers to the Burgundian fashion of the early 15th century and was already archaic at the time of the painting.

Marinus, in addition to practicing painting, also held a position as a city official, and was familiar not only with the procedures, but also with the documents he may have drawn up himself. The book's inscriptions include excerpts from actual accounts from the Reymerswaele municipal archives. The signet ring on the clerk's finger depicts the coat of arms of the town of Reymerswaele, which was flooded by ocean waters while the artist was still alive and does not exist today.

The painting is the author's replica of the composition found in the Louvre, as indicated by the rich expressiveness of the drawing and excellent color composition. The presence of a signet ring with the city's coat of arms is a rarity among the other versions of this composition.