After Bernardino Luini, 'Christ', probably after 1530
About the work
Overview
This is a copy of the central figure of Christ from Luini’s Christ Among the Doctors, also in National Gallery’s collection. Luini’s composition may be based on an original design by Leonardo.
At the age of 12, Jesus was taken to the Temple in Jerusalem by Mary and Joseph, who became accidentally separated from him. They found him three days later debating learnedly with the theologians there (Luke 2: 41). Jesus looks at us serenely as he counts the points of his argument off on his fingers. The picture is sometimes thought to be the adult Christ disputing with the Pharisees, as his beard suggests he is older than 12.
This copy does not seem to be contemporary with Luini’s original painting. The artist’s work was venerated and copied for a century or more after his death, and this popular composition was copied in multiple versions by many different artists.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Christ
- Artist
- After Bernardino Luini
- Artist dates
- about 1480 - 1532
- Date made
- probably after 1530
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 73.7 × 57.8 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bequeathed by the Misses Cohen as part of the John Samuel collection, 1906
- Inventory number
- NG2088
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
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1871Royal Academy of Arts, Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters associated with the Works of Deceased Masters of the British School (exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, 1871), London 1871
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1893H.A. Grueber and I. Spielmann, Exhibition of Early Italian Art from 1300 to 1550, (exh. cat. New Gallery, 1893-94), London 1893
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1895Catalogue of Pictures by Italian Masters of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Collected by John Samuel, London 1895
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1899G.C. Williamson, Bernardino Luini, London 1899
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1907'The National Gallery: Gift of Important Pictures', Morning Post, 1907
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1907M.H. Spielmann, 'The John Samuel Bequest to the National Gallery, I', The Connoisseur, XVII, 1907, pp. 229-34
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1911L. Beltrami, Luini 1512-1532: Materiale di studio, Milan 1911
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1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1956A. Ottino della Chiesa, Bernardino Luini, Novara 1956
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1961M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
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