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Jesus Among the Teachers, Gustave Doré

Bible in art · Luke

Jesus Among the Teachers

Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw

Doré’s design for the 1866 Bible of Tours was cut into wood by A. Bertrand, whose name stands at the bottom right. The plate is built almost entirely of people: some twenty heads crowd the sheet.

A boy in a pale tunic stands barefoot in the middle, one hand on his chest, the other raised as he speaks. Around him the teachers sit and stand in hoods and turbans. Books and scrolls lie on the floor; the light falls on the boy alone.

From the text

  • “after three days they found Him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers” (Luke 2:46)
  • “listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46)
  • “all who heard Him were astounded at His understanding and His answers” (Luke 2:47)

The artist’s own

  • The boy stands and speaks, while the text says He was sitting among the teachers
  • Round pillars with carved capitals and stone walls more like a medieval church than the temple of Herod
  • Bound books lying on the floor beside the scrolls

Details

The boy

In a plain tunic and barefoot, he raises his hand as he speaks.

A scroll

A tall old teacher in a hood holds a scroll and looks down at the boy.

Books and scrolls

A large open book and a rolled scroll lie on the floor.

Carved capitals

Round pillars with carved tops hold up the hall.

Gustave Doré, French, 1832–1883. National Library of Poland (Biblioteka Narodowa), Warsaw — «Pismo Święte Starego i Nowego Testamentu», vol. 2, Warsaw: M. Glücksberg, 1874 (acc. 75.267 A) · Wood engraving after Gustave Doré’s design · National Library of Poland (Polona): the record of the volume gives the licence «Domena Publiczna» (Public Domain), «copyrightProtected»: false; the scan was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by the library itself («Polona Upload», GLAM-Wiki partnership: “This file was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as part of a GLAM-Wiki partnership between the National Library of Poland and Wikimedia Polska”), linking its Polona record.