Doctor Bordone

When I was first reading the bible story, I was instead picturing a very different scene than the one that Bordone creates. I was imagining a painting more similar to a work by Heinrich Hofmann made in 1871. His painting Christ in the Temple, shows Christ surrounded by five other men, the doctors who he is conversing with. In this painting, there are much less people which allows for a more compact composition without many other things for the viewer to be distracted by. When I look at Bordone’s painting, I find myself lost at times in the many different things happening in the painting; the people looking at other people, and the hectic atmosphere the heated debates give. In Hofmann’s painting, everyone is depicted as equals of sorts. The …show more content…
The bible says that Christ is, “sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions” (Bible Luke 2:46-47). Hoffman’s painting illustrates this in a much clearer way than Bordone’s does. The way Bordone depicts the doctors, it seems like Christ is telling the doctors things, and they have to look up his allegations in books to prove that he is either wrong or right. Bordone show a Christ that doesn’t seem to be treating the doctors with as much quality as the story states. He shows a scene that is mainly the doctors scrambling to their books to see if Christ is right, and learning from him rather than Christ also learning from the doctors. The way Bordone shows Christ on a throne high above the others also doesn’t show how Christ is on equal standings with the doctors. The story seems to portray a Christ that is more focused on teaching the teachers than learning from them. Hofmann’s depiction instead shows Christ amongst a small group of old men. He does not depict a clear hierarchy between the doctors and Christ, which we can clearly see in Bordone’s. Hofmann also shows the debate in a much less dramatic way than