Presentation at the Temple

The Presentation at the Temple is a tempera painting on canvas by Andrea Mantegna, the Italian Renaissance artist, now held in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. It shows the moment when the Virgin Mary brings the infant Jesus to the temple, where the elderly Simeon prepares to take him in his arms. The scene unfolds within a simulated marble frame, and one of its most striking details is the cushion on which the Child rests: it seems to lean against that frame and project slightly toward the viewer, a trompe-l'oeil device that reinforces the sense of real space. Simeon, wearing a richly brocaded cloak, stands opposite Mary, while Joseph appears in the shadowy background with a faint halo, as the other sacred figures have. At the far sides, two onlookers without halos have been identified, probably as a self-portrait of Mantegna and a portrait of his wife. The exact date is unknown; it is generally placed between 1453 and 1460, during the painter's early years in Padua, a span that overlaps with his marriage and his departure for Mantua. The work matters partly because Giovanni Bellini's later treatment of the same subject seems to have been inspired by it.

Painter

Andrea Mantegna

Date

1400

Medium

tempera, canvas

Dimensions

77 × 94 cm

Museum

Gemäldegalerie Berlin, Berlin

Genre

religious art

Depicts

boy, Mary, woman, Christ Child

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