Christ among the Doctors

This panel depicts the twelve-year-old Jesus sitting among the learned doctors of the Temple in Jerusalem, disputing questions of theology (Luke 2:41-51). Many of Bramer’s works dating from about 1640 onward feature figures larger in scale than those in his earlier works. This may reflect his activity as a muralist at the court, and the influence of Gerard van Honthorst and other Caravaggesque painters, including their Delft adherents Willem van Vliet and Christiaen Couwenbergh.