Presentation in the Temple

In 1638 Paulus Pontius, the Antwerp engraver who worked most closely with Rubens, made a print of the Presentation in the Temple after the master's design. Engravings like it carried Rubens's compositions far beyond Flanders, and 120 years later Janneck built this picture on that one. The Belvedere notes that he added figures, as he tended to in his later work, and that in his day a crowded scene counted as a mark of quality. The story comes from Luke's Gospel. Mary and Joseph bring the child to the Temple, where the aged Simeon takes him in his arms and recognises the Messiah. Here Simeon gazes upward, Mary kneels on the carpeted step, and Joseph carries a pair of white doves, the offering the Law required. A seven-branched candlestick stands in the background. The museum acquired the painting in 2009.