The Presentation in the Temple

Carved and originally polychromed. The section with the upper bodies of the rear two figures was carved separately and attached with dowels (reinforced with modern screws).

Missing are the left arm of the man, the Christ Child’s right arm and a section of the woman’s liripipe. A wedge has been inserted in the front of the base. The polychromy has been removed with a caustic.

…; from the collection A.P. Hermans-Smits (1822-1897), Eindhoven, with numerous other objects (BK-NM-2001 to -2800), fl. 14,000 for all, to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, 1875; transferred to the museum, 1885; on loan to the Noordbrabants Museum, Den Bosch, 1974-2017

ObjectNumber: BK-NM-2510

Luke (2:22) describes how Mary and Joseph presented the Christ Child in the temple together with an offering of doves, as was the custom for new-born boys in that day. Depicted in this relief is the moment at which the trio encounters Simeon, who recognizes the baby as the Messiah. Simeon is the man on the right who reaches out to him. Out of respect for the holy child, his hands are covered with a cloth. Standing opposite across the altar is Mary, who supports her son. In the background, two standing witnesses look on, possibly Joseph and the prophetess Anne. Of these latter two only the upper bodies are finished, together carved from a separate piece of wood and attached to the reverse of the foremost plane of the relief with dowels. This material-saving technique was frequently applied in the Antwerp retable industry at the onset of the sixteenth century. The Antwerp origin of this particular retable group is confirmed by the presence of the Antwerp hand branded in the landscape base adjacent to Mary’s foot. The group likely formed part of a modest-sized Marian altarpiece; judging by the scale it would have been one of the scenes flanking, for example, Maria Immaculata or the Tree of Jesse in the centre.¹¹Cf. the Antwerp Marian retables in Västerås and Bocholt, see KIK-IRPA, object nos. 40000667 and 53414; H. Nieuwdorp (ed.), Antwerp Altarpieces 15th-16th centuries, 2 vols., exh. cat. Antwerp (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) 1993, vol. 1, nos. 8 and 12. The somewhat caricatural faces of Simeon and the woman in the background indicate a dating around 1530, at a time when Antwerp Mannerism was gaining in popularity.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 158

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, The Presentation in the Temple, Antwerp, c. 1530', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.24438