#3979_”Christ among the Doctors,” after Dürer

This one-of-a-kind unframed original pencil, ink and watermedia painting was created by New Orleans artist Emilie Rhys, from a photograph of the painting, on December 21, 2014 at the Hotel Elysee New York City. The artist, while visiting NYC on vacation, often sat in the hotel library and chose a book with photographs of art or historic photographs from which to draw.

The artist was copying an oil painting from 1506 by Albrecht Dürer, a Renaissance painter and printmaker from Germany. The subject is the "Finding in the Temple," also known as "Christ among the Doctors" and it illustrates an episode in the early life of Jesus, as described in chapter 2 of the Gospel of Luke, wherein he amazes his elders with his depth of learning.

There is a long history of artists turning for inspiration to the work of their predecessors, creating copies or interpretations of well-known masterworks. While most of the artist's drawings are completed on the spot, some receive additional work, and in this case the paint was added at the artist's French Quarter art studio.