The
circumcision controversy in early Christianity was resolved in the 1st century, so that non-Jewish Christians were not obliged to be circumcised.
Saint Paul, the leading proponent of this position, discouraged circumcision as a qualification for conversion to Christianity. Circumcision soon became rare in most of the Christian world, except the
Coptic Church of
Egypt (where circumcision was a tradition dating to
pre-Christian times) and for
Judeo-Christians. Perhaps for this reason, the subject of the circumcision of Christ was extremely rare in Christian art of the 1st millennium, and there appear to be no surviving examples until the very end of the period, although literary references suggest it was sometimes depicted. '' () One of the earliest depictions to survive is a miniature in an important
Byzantine illuminated manuscript of 979–984, the
Menologion of Basil II in the
Vatican Library. This has a scene which shows Mary and Joseph holding the baby Jesus outside a building, probably the
Temple of Jerusalem, as a priest comes towards them with a small knife. This is typical of the early depictions, which avoid showing the operation itself. At the period of Jesus's birth, the actual Jewish practice was for the operation to be performed at home, usually by the father, and Joseph is shown using the knife in an
enamelled plaque from the
Klosterneuburg Altar (1181) by
Nicolas of Verdun, where it is next to plaques showing the very rare scenes (in Christian art) of the circumcisions of
Isaac and
Samson. Like most later depictions these are shown taking place in a large building, probably representing the Temple, though in fact the ceremony was never performed there. Medieval pilgrims to the Holy Land were told Jesus had been circumcised in the church at
Bethlehem. An influential book by
Leo Steinberg,
The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion (1983, 2nd edition 1996), explores the explicit depiction of Christ's penis in art, which he argues became a new focus of attention in late medieval art, initially covered only by a transparent veil in the early 14th century, and by the second half of the century completely uncovered, and often being the subject of the gaze or gestures of other figures in the scene. This emphasis is, among other things, a demonstration of Christ's humanity when it appears in depictions of the
Madonna and Child and other scenes of Christ's childhood, and also a foreshadowing of Christ's Passion to come in the context of the
Circumcision. Having borrowed the large architectural setting in the Temple of the
Presentation, later scenes may show the high priest alone holding the baby, as he or a
mohel performs the operation, as in the
St Wolfgang altarpiece by
Michael Pacher (1481), or Dürer's painting (right) and his influential
woodcut from his series on the
Life of the Virgin. This reflected what had by then become, and remains, standard Jewish practice, where the ceremony is performed in the
synagogue and the baby is held by the seated
rabbi as the
mohel performs the operation. Other depictions show the baby held by Mary or Joseph, or both. Many show another baby in the background, presumably the next in the queue. Other late medieval and Renaissance depictions of circumcision in general show antipathy towards Judaism; caricatures show the procedure as being grotesquely cruel and the
mohel as a threatening figure;
Martin Luther's
anti-Judaic treatise of 1543,
On the Jews and Their Lies, devotes many pages to circumcision. Some late-medieval German depictions depict the
Circumcision of Christ in a similar vein, with the baby not held by his parents and the officiating Jewish officials given stereotypic features. In at least one manuscript miniature women are shown performing the rite, which has been interpreted as a misogynistic trope, with circumcision represented as a form of emasculation. By the 15th century the scene was often prominent in large
polyptych altarpieces with many scenes in Northern Europe, and began to be the main scene on the central panel in some cases, usually when commissioned by lay
confraternities dedicated to the
Holy Name of Jesus, which were found in many cities. These often included
donor portraits of members, though none are obvious in
Luca Signorelli's
Circumcision of Christ commissioned by the confraternity at
Volterra. The devotion to the Holy Name was a strong feature of the theatrical and extremely popular preaching of Saint
Bernardino of Siena, who adopted Christ's
IHS monogram as his personal
emblem, which was also used by the
Jesuits; this often appears in paintings, as may a scroll held by an angel reading
Vocatum est nomen eius Jesum. () A smaller composition in a horizontal format originated with the
Venetian painter
Giovanni Bellini in about 1500 and was extremely popular, with at least 34 copies or versions being produced over the following decades; the nearest to a
prime version is in the
National Gallery, London, though attributed to his workshop. These appear to have been commissioned for homes, possibly as
votive offerings for the safe birth of an eldest son, although the reason for their popularity remains unclear. They followed some other depictions in showing
Simeon, the prophet of the Presentation, regarded by then as a High Priest of the Temple, performing the operation on Jesus held by Mary. In other depictions he is a figure in the background, sometimes holding up his hands and looking to heaven, as in the Signorelli. An altarpiece of 1500 by another Venetian painter,
Marco Marziale (National Gallery, London), is a thoroughgoing conflation of the Circumcision and Presentation, with the text of Simeon's prophecy, the
Nunc dimittis, shown as if in
mosaic on the vaults of the temple setting. There were a number of comparable works, some commissioned in circumstances where it is clear that the
iconography would have had to pass learned scrutiny, so the conflation was evidently capable of theological approval, although some complaints are also recorded. '' by
Albrecht Dürer The scene was often included in Protestant art, where this included narrative scenes. It appears on baptismal fonts because of the connection made by theologians with baptism. A painting (1661,
National Gallery of Art, Washington) and an
etching (1654) by
Rembrandt are both unusual in showing the ceremony taking place in a stable. By this period large depictions were rarer in Catholic art, not least because the
interpretation of the decrees of the final session of the
Council of Trent in 1563 discouraged nudity in religious art, even that of the infant Jesus, which made depicting the scene difficult. Even before this, 16th-century depictions like those of Bellini, Dürer and Signorelli tended to discreetly hide Jesus's penis from view, in contrast to earlier compositions, where this evidence of his humanity is clearly displayed. Poems on the subject included
John Milton's
Upon the Circumcision and his contemporary
Richard Crashaw's
Our Lord in His Circumcision to His Father, which both expounded the traditional symbolism. ==Theological beliefs and celebrations==