Description

The polychrome depicts the circumcision of Christ. During this painful custom, practised on the 8th day after the birth, the child was given a name. In the fresco, the ceremony is performed by three old men - a rabbi on a chair is reading the Torah, another person holds the child by the hands, and the third person, the so-called mohel, performs the circumcision. St. Joseph is watching the ceremony, while Mary turns her head in pain. The whole scene is watched by a figure in a black coat, leaning against a chair. It is the second portrait by Michael Willmann. As the anecdote goes, this fresco depicts the abbot's subsequent problems with the painter. According to the story, it was not enough for the artist's employer to lock the painter up in the church, so he appointed a special monk to watch over the disobedient artist. However, the monk often lectured Willmann, pointing his remarks and reproaches with his finger. As a form of revenge, the painter painted the figure of the clergyman wearing glasses in the centre of the scene, as he is instructing the Jewish priests how to properly circumcise the Child.