圣母进殿

The story here is not in the Bible proper but in old legend: the Virgin Mary as a small child, taken by her parents Joachim and Anna to the Temple in Jerusalem and given over to God. Cima painted it in the 1490s, in Venice, working in the calm bright manner of Giovanni Bellini's circle. Instead of a flat gold background he builds a real-looking world, a wide stone temple and a landscape opening beyond, all under an even midday light. And there, halfway up the great flight of steps, is Mary, a tiny lone figure climbing toward the waiting priest while the grown-ups cluster below, made small by the architecture around her.