Getty Museum

Border with the Circumcision of Isaac

Creator

Flemish Illuminator · 1483–1561

Artist

One of the most celebrated painters of Flanders in the 1500s, Simon Bening was hailed by Portuguese art critic Francisco da Hollanda as the greatest master of illumination in all of Europe. In addition to producing books for powerful aristocrats such as Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, Bening worked for a group of international royal patrons including Emperor Charles V and Don Fernando, the Infan

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Date: about 1525–1530
Medium: Tempera colors, gold paint, and gold leaf
Culture: Flemish
Department: Manuscripts
Institution: Getty Museum

Prefiguring the New Testament scene of Christ's circumcision on the facing page, the border of this page presents Isaac's circumcision as recounted in the Old Testament. His father Abraham and two midwives lean over the newborn Isaac while Isaac's mother Sarah, who had been childless until God intervened in her old age, rests in bed. At the top right, a panel set within sculptural tracery names the source, the book of Genesis. The smoke pouring from the chimney just below marks the transition between the cozy bedroom and the outdoors. The scene's spatial sophistication--combining both interior and exterior in one view--was one of the hallmarks of Flemish painting of the 1400s and the 1500s.

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