The Virgin of Sorrows: Christ Disputing with the Doctors; one of nine surrounding compartments from the Virgin of Sorrows, now separated
by 1575
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 × 2 1/4 in. (7 × 5.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.600.3490
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate engraving, *The Virgin of Sorrows Christ Disputing with the Doctors*, is one of nine surrounding compartments from larger *Virgin of Sorrows*, now separated for preservation. Created by the masterful Italian engraver Giorgio Gh by 1575, it captures a pivotal biblical moment Luke 2:41-52, where the young Christ engages in debate with scholars in the temple. Sur by figures of men poring over texts—evoking themes of wisdom and divine revelation—the scene underscores the precocious intellect of the child Jesus, a motif central to Renaissance devotion. Ghisi, a leading figure in 16th...
About the Artist
Giorgio Ghisi · 1520–1582
Giorgio Ghisi (c. 1520–1582) was one of the most accomplished engravers of the Italian Renaissance, renowned for translating the monumental compositions of Raphael, Giulio Romano, and Michelangelo into the exacting medium of the burin. Born in Mantua, he trained in an environment shaped by the legacy of Giulio Romano's decoration of the Palazzo del Te, and the grandeur of that Mannerist tradition ...