Full title | The Presentation in the Temple |
---|---|
Artist | Master of Liesborn |
Artist dates | active second half of the 15th century |
Series | The Liesborn Altarpiece |
Date made | probably 1470-80 |
Medium and support | Oil on canvas, transferred from oak |
Dimensions | 98.4 x 70.2 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1854 |
Inventory number | NG257 |
Location | Room 62 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
This is one of the few surviving intact scenes which once formed part of an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn in the west of Germany. This painting is likely to have originally appeared to the right of the main scene showing the Crucifixion.
Shortly after birth, Jewish boys were required by religious law to be presented at the temple to be consecrated. Here, the Virgin Mary is about to hand Christ over to the priest. This is Simeon, who is described in the Gospel of Luke as recognising Christ’s divinity and significance at this moment (Luke 2: 28–30). Simeon was one of the saints to whom the altarpiece was dedicated.
The artist has set this biblical event in a contemporary setting that would be familiar to worshippers. The temple, for example, is represented as a Gothic church with a high vaulted roof and decorative leaded windows.
This is one of the few surviving intact scenes which once formed part of the central panel of the altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn. This painting is likely to have originally appeared to the right of the main scene showing the Crucifixion, below an image of the Adoration of the Kings.
Shortly after birth Jewish male children were required according to religious law to be presented at the temple to be consecrated. Christ is shown in the arms of his mother, the Virgin Mary, who is about to hand him over to the priest. He is probably Simeon, who recognised Christ as the spiritual Messiah (the longed-for saviour of the Jews) upon seeing him: ‘then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation’ (Luke 2: 28–30). Simeon was one of the saints to whom the altarpiece was dedicated. It was also dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which explains why this scene also includes a reference to the ritual of purification, where women who had just given birth had to offer two turtle doves (shown here in the cage held by Mary’s attendant) as a sacrifice (Luke 2: 22–24).
In both this scene and one of the Annunciation, also in our collection, the artist has set the biblical event in a contemporary setting that would be familiar to worshippers. The temple, for example, is represented as a Gothic church with a high vaulted roof and decorative leaded windows. The sculptures on the slender pilasters are Old Testament figures. The central one is King David, legendary king of Israel who was famous for his harp-playing and who was the author of the Psalms. Christ was descended from him through Mary’s husband, Joseph. Further on is the prophet Moses, holding the tablets of the Law, given to him by God on Mount Sinai and set out in the book of Leviticus, which details the laws to be followed after childbirth. The omission of Joseph is unusual, although this occurs in some other Westphalian pictures.
The picture was transferred from its original wooden panel to canvas, probably on account of damage to the panel.
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The Presentation in the Temple
The Liesborn Altarpiece
These images once formed part of a large altarpiece made for the high altar of the monastery church of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn, in Westphalia in north-west Germany. The main panel consisted of a central scene of the Crucifixion, flanked on either side by two smaller individual scenes from Christ’s infancy.
In 1517 two shutters painted by the Master of Cappenberg were added to either side of the Master of Liesborn’s original panel. These showed the events leading up to Christ’s crucifixion, his resurrection and events that occurred afterwards, such as the Pentecost.
The altarpiece was removed in the eighteenth century and later cut up; only fragments survive. Six images from the main panel are in the National Gallery’s collection: three fragments of the central Crucifixion, two complete flanking images (The Annunciation and The Presentation in the Temple) and a fragment of The Adoration of the Kings, another flanking scene. Two further images come from the shutters.
These paintings are fragments from an altarpiece – one of the largest of its time – made for the high altar of the monastery church of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn, in Westphalia in north-west Germany. The high altar was consecrated in 1465 by Abbott Heinrich von Kleve and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saints Cosmas, Damian and Simeon, all of whom feature on the altarpiece.
The main panel consisted of a central scene of the Crucifixion flanked on either side by two smaller individual scenes from Christ’s infancy, one on top of the other. In 1517, about 40 years after the main panel was completed, two shutters were commissioned from a different artist, the Master of Cappenberg. These were painted on both sides, and depicted the events leading up to Christ’s death, his resurrection and events that took place afterwards. They were attached to the outer edges of either side of the main panel.
The altarpiece was removed and replaced with another painting in 1704. We do not know exactly when it was cut up into separate pieces but it may have been in the eighteenth century. Many of these fragments entered the National Gallery’s collection after they were acquired from the Kruger Collection in 1854. However, pictures from that collection were resold in 1857, enabled by a special Act of Parliament, and a large number are now in the Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History, Münster (not far from Liesborn); there are some in other collections too. Those retained by the National Gallery include three fragments of The Crucifixion: the head of Christ and two fragments of the figures standing at the base of the Cross, Saint John the Evangelist with Saints Scholastica and Benedict and Saints Cosmas and Damian with the Virgin. Four fragments now in Münster show angels gathering Christ’s blood in chalices – they would have been shown hovering beneath the wounds in his hands where he was nailed to the Cross.
Two of the scenes that surrounded the Crucifixion are also in the National Gallery’s collection: The Annunciation (which was at the top left) and The Presentation in the Temple (the lower of the two right-hand scenes). The other small fragment in our collection shows two of the kings kneeling to worship the infant Christ, who lies in his mother’s lap. This is the central part of The Adoration of the Kings, originally situated at the top right – other fragments from this scene are in Münster. This configuration of central image flanked by lateral scenes painted on the same panel was fairly common in Westphalian altarpieces of this date.
Two scenes from the shutters are also in the National Gallery’s collection: Christ before Pilate and The Coronation of the Virgin. Six scenes from these wings are in Münster (one of the six is on loan from a private collection).







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