PROVENANCE: Charles Brinsley Marlay; his bequest to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1912; Julius Weitzner, New York, 1958; BJU, 1958.

This painting illustrates a striking scene from Christ's early life. Here, the 12-year-old Christ is "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers" (Luke 2:46 -47). As God, Jesus had full communion with the Holy Spirit and God the Father and could immediately understand and expound the deep answers to the doctors' spiritual questions.

In this work, Manetti masterfully underpins his complex scene with an intricate play of hand and facial gestures. Hands accentuate the amazement (far left elder), inquisitiveness (far right elder), and authority (Christ) that emanate from the characters' facial expressions. For this work, Manetti used "the Manfredi Method," a composition style using half-length figures made popular by the 17th-century artist Bartolomeo Manfredi.