Circumcision of Christ

Bramer returned to the subject of the Circumcision more than twenty times. The present treatment of the scene celebrates the humanity of this moment in Christ’s life, while also foreshadowing what is to come. Bramer paints the scene without strong emphasis on Christ’s divinity. The artist uses a strong light source from the right of the picture to draw our eye to the scholars and high Priest gathered around a large book, presumably intended to invoke Christ’s fulfilling of the Law. It also evokes the return of the young Christ to Temple many years after this scene when Christ will slip away from Mary and Joseph to join the learned conversations there (Luke 2:41-52).

While many paintings of the Circumcision feature a Virgin with her face turned towards her Child, the present Virgin’s upwards, agonised glance recalls more closely depictions at the Deposition, as does the positioning of the infant Christ. Bramer’s dynamic use of light and shadow as narrative devices reveals his reception to the ideas of Caravaggio, whose work he encountered during his sojourn in Rome (1616-27).