The circumcision of Christ. Etching by J.M. Giovannini after G. Reni.

Bible. N.T. Luke 2.21. At the bottom-right, a cherub sits with a lamb holding a cross with a trailing banner. To the left a woman holds a basket with two turtledoves, a sacrifice for the occasion of presentation at the Temple. The mohel is bald

The circumcision scene has a wide reaching symbolic resonance: it shows the first shedding of the blood of Christ, hence the beginning of the Passion; it is the moment Christ is named; furthermore it displays the Judaism through which Christianity must pass

1 print : etching ; platemark 32.4 x 24.2 cm

Ill.mo D.D. Gaetano Julio Zumbo nobili Trinacriensi: virtutem protheo, ingeniosissimo mundi Cerei Prometheo, Minervappollineo mirabili, naturae, et artis argo vigilantissimo; hunc Felsinei thaumantidis Guidi Reni archetypum, acu calcographo typis perennatum, ad centrum suu, intertot prodigia collocatum, ultro convolantem, libenter dimittens. ; Jacobus Joanninus pictor et incisor Bonon. D.D.D.

Adam Bartsch, Le peintre graveur, vol.19, Vienna 1819, p. 421, Giovannini no. 3

Wellcome Collection 22025i