Presentation at the Temple (Bellini)
Encyclopedia
The Presentation at the Temple is a painting of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, which falls on 2 February, celebrates an early episode in the life of Jesus. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and some Eastern Catholic Churches, it is one of the twelve Great Feasts, and is sometimes called Hypapante...

 by the Italian master Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it...

, dating to c. 1460. It is housed in the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, Italy.

History

The dating of the work is uncertain, though it is usually considered to be subsequent to the Presentation at the Temple
Presentation at the Temple (Mantegna)
The Presentation at the Temple is painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna. Dating to c. 1455, it is housed in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany.-History:...

by Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son in law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g., by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality...

 (Berlin, c. 1455), from which Bellini took a very similar placement of the figures.

The commission of the two works is unknown, as well as if the figures, as is sometimes suggested, portrayed members of the Mantegna and Bellini families.

Description and style

The main characters are nearly the same than in Mantegna's work: the Virgin is holding the Child, whose feet are lying on a cushion, while the bearded figure of Simeon
Simeon the Righteous
Simeon is the "just and devout" man of Jerusalem who, according to , met the Virgin Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as they entered the Temple to fulfill the requirements of the Law of Moses on the 40th day from Jesus' birth.According to the Biblical account,...

 is coming to take him. In the front is St. Joseph, which, according to some scholars, would be a portrait of Bellini's father, Jacopo
Jacopo Bellini
Jacopo Bellini was an Italian painter. Jacopo was one of the founders of the Renaissance style of painting in Venice and northern Italy. His sons Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, and his son-in-law Andrea Mantegna, were also famous painters....

. On the sides the painter added two further figures, which make the picture rather crowded. Apart his father, other identifications include the author's self-portrait and Mantegna (or his brother Gentile Bellini
Gentile Bellini
Gentile Bellini was an Italian painter. From 1474 he was the official portrait artist for the Doges of Venice.- Biography :...

) for the two men on the right; and Nicolosia, sister of Giovanni and Gentile, and wife of Mantegna, together with their mother Anna for the women on the left.

Bellini also replaced Mantegna's bronze frame with a parapet, making the characters nearer to the observer, and omitted their haloes
Halo (religious iconography)
A halo is a ring of light that surrounds a person in art. They have been used in the iconography of many religions to indicate holy or sacred figures, and have at various periods also been used in images of rulers or heroes...

.
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