The Presentation in the Temple

End of the 14th century
Marble
Musée National de l'Age Médiévale, Paris

Simeon takes the child with hands covered by his mantle, a traditional detail. In Luke's gospel the child is swaddled immediately after birth; here, on his eighth day he still has the swaddling.

It was also traditional to picture an altar-like table to suggest the sacrifice that the child was destined to endure. Here the division between the two marble pieces separates the altar in two.

Anna stands in the background behind Mary. Absent are the doves and candles found in most medieval paintings of this event.

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Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.