MASTER of AB Monogram
(active 1530s in Saxony)

The Circumcision

c. 1530
Oil on lime wood panel, 42 x 39 cm
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

There exists a series of six panels (five in Dresden and one in Moscow) which depicts Scenes from the Childhood of Jesus: The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Birth of Jesus, The Adoration of the Magi, The Circumcision and The Flight into Egypt. The sequence is regarded as a Life of the Virgin, although only the story of Jesus's childhood is told, while specific events in the life of Mary, such as the birth of the Mother of God, her death, ascension and coronation, are missing. Three of the Dresden panels are signed with the monogram AB, similar to Dürer's famous monogram. The painter of these panels is referred to as the Monogrammist AB, a painter of Swabian origin, active in Saxony with close connections with Lucas Cranach's workshop.