Giralte de Bruselas et al., The Main Retable at Oviedo Cathedral: Detail, the Boy Jesus Among the Doctors

1512-31
Oviedo, Spain

As usual, the boy Jesus sits in a raised area above the center of the others. He appears to be counting on his fingers, a gesture that means a person is expounding the doctrine of the Trinity. (See this page for other examples.) The standing figures on the left are most likely Mary (in blue) and Joseph (in the shadows behind). It is common in medieval images of this type to have them entering the frame from the left.

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Photographed at the cathedral by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.