Christ among the docters

Christ among the Doctors—the twelve-year-old Jesus astonishing the Temple scholars—was a subject that allowed painters to contrast youthful wisdom with aged learning. Stom’s 1642 version in Munich’s Alte Pinakothek was painted during his mature Sicilian period and shows his characteristic ability to differentiate multiple candlelit faces. The Bavarian State collections acquired several of Stom’s works, reflecting eighteenth-century German taste for Caravaggist painting.

Multiple light sources illuminate a crowd of varied physiognomies, each doctor’s face individually characterized. The young Christ at center is distinguished by a cooler, more luminous light than the warm candlelight on the surrounding elders.