The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple

Andrea di Bartolo

National Gallery of Art

An older woman and man stand behind a young girl who climbs up the steps of a structure, in which a bearded man stands with his hands outstretched, while a group of six people gather to our right, all against a shimmering gold background in this vertical painting. All the people have light skin with long noses, dark eyes, and their garments are edged with gold. The young girl, Mary, walks to our right but looks back over her shoulder to our left. She has reddish-blond hair pulled back under a scarlet-red headband, hazel-green eyes, and her rosebud lips are closed. Her rose-pink, long-sleeved dress falls to her feet and is covered with a stylized, gold, floral pattern. She holds a book with a red cover in one hand and holds up the hem of her dress with the other. She and the two older people behind her have flat, gold halos incised with geometric patterns surrounding their heads. The older couple behind her, in the lower left corner of the composition, face our right in profile. The older woman stands closer to us, wearing a white veil that covers her head, neck, and shoulders. With one hand she holds the sides of her aquamarine-blue cloak closed over her pine-green dress, and she holds her right hand up near her shoulder with the palm facing Mary. The man behind her has a gray beard and wavy hair, and he wears a dusky rose-pink cloak over a long-sleeved, blue garment. He raises his right hand near Mary’s elbow. The arched, domed structure at the top of the stairs, in the right half of the painting, has ivory-white walls, and the ceiling is blue with gold stars. Mary approaches a man standing in the structure with his arms held out and hands open. He has shoulder-length, curly gray hair and a long beard, and wears a tall, pointed cap above a gold crown. His red cloak falls open over a long white robe that ends just shy of the golden-yellow garment beneath, which falls to his feet. Tucked into the corner behind him and to our right, four young girls or women with blond hair tucked under headbands stand in a close group, wearing dresses of butter yellow, crimson red, or rose pink. The girl closest to us crosses her arms over her chest and looks to our right, but the others look toward the man in the structure. They stand next to a rectangular altar holding a tall, gold vessel. The two bearded men in the lower right corner of the painting look toward each other and point in opposite directions, one wearing a lilac-purple cloak over a red robe and the other a forest-green cloak over a pale blue robe. In the background, the red layer beneath the gold leaf shows through in some areas.