National Gallery removes “antisemitic” artwork from online exhibition 

The National Gallery has removed a picture that it has deemed antisemitic from its upcoming online exhibition. 

Albrecht Dürer’s Christ Among the Doctors tells the story of Jesus as a twelve-year-old debating with Jewish doctors in Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. While many artists have painted the biblical scene, some feel that Dürer’s painting from 1506 uses antisemitic overtones to depict the Jewish characters.

A National Gallery spokesperson said: “We are aware that the representation of the Doctors may cause offence and both the wall texts and the audio guide in the exhibition will acknowledge and address caricature and antisemitic portrayal in the painting.

“We have removed the image and accompanying text from our online gallery of selected exhibited works as we felt that in this format there was not adequate space for the interpretation required for this work.”

The exhibition is set to launch next month and will focus on the work of Dürer.