The Presentation of Christ in the Temple

A man in a red cap holds two white doves against his chest. This is Joseph, carrying the family's offering. Luke's Gospel says the parents brought a pair of doves or young pigeons to the Temple, and the Law of Moses allowed two birds in place of a lamb for a mother who could not afford one. Mary, in a blue-green mantle, holds out the naked Child on a fold of dark cloth towards the old man Simeon in a heavy red cloak. The painter, working around 1420 to 1425, built the Temple as a Gothic chapel, with ribbed vaults, a carved boss hanging between two arches, and diamond-paned windows set against gold. The event was kept every year on 2 February as Candlemas, when churches blessed candles while the choir sang Simeon's words about a light for the Gentiles.