Christ teaching the children

The motif for this painting, which is rendered predominantly in warm tones of green, comes from the Gospel according to St. Matthew. Glowing robes in orange-red create colourful accents. Christ sits in the midst of a large and interested crowd. Wearing a long robe in light grey, he has his arms raised as if explaining something. In front of and beside him stand and sit mothers with their small children, some of whom are still infants and are being breastfed. Most of the listeners standing have gathered behind Christ; they too wear ankle-length robes and are barefoot underneath. The painting ‘Christ teaching the children’ is dated 1605 on the lintel of the portal in the background. One special feature is the missing part of Jesus’ eye. This is a so-called ‘repentance stroke’, a change made during the creation of the painting, when the lines had to be corrected, for example. ‘Repentance strokes’ become noticeable in oil paintings due to the aging process that the paint layers undergo. In our case, it could have been uncovered during a restoration and then no longer retouched.