LOT 0393

Stained Glass Panel with the Presentation at the Temple

FLEMISH, 19TH CENTURY A.D. OR EARLIER

25 1/2 x 21 in. (4.5 kg, 65 x 53.5 cm).

In late 15th century style, showing Mary and Joseph on the foreground dressed in white and brown robes covered by blue and violet cloaks; Simeon holding and blessing baby Jesus before them, wearing a white turban and a long tunica talaris; architectural background showing the Temple of Jerusalem, altar and a menorah, medieval Flemish inscription at the bottom ‘DE OLDE AAN DEN TEMPEL’ (the old man in the Temple) in uncial letters. [No Reserve]

From a war-damaged church in Belgium.
Ex property of a late Northumberland collector.
From a private collection, Derbyshire, UK.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Cf. similar scene in The Presentation at the Temple (c. 1506-11), by Grão Vasco, part of the polyptych of the High Chapel of the Lamego Cathedral, published in Braga A. and Brás P., A Sé de Lamego no Museu, catálogo de exposição, ed. SEC e Museu de Lamego, Museu Diocesano de Lamego, Lamego, 2014.

The Gospel of Luke (II,22-39) narrates that Mary and Joseph took baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth, to ‘offer him’ to God. All first-born male children went through this ceremony in compliance with the command of the Exodus. During their visit, they met Simeon, who had been told that he would not die before seeing the Messiah. Simeon praised the Lord with the words that are now known as the Song of Simeon.