Guercino, 'The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple', 1623

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

Guercino

Room 26

About the work

Overview

Forty days after his birth, Mary and Joseph brought the infant Christ to the Temple in Jerusalem. According to Jewish custom, all first-born male children were to be taken to the Temple to be presented to God in a ceremony that involved the sacrifice of two doves or pigeons, visible here at the foot of the altar. The elderly seated figure is the high priest Simeon. The Gospel of Luke says that the Holy Ghost had told Simeon he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. Guercino portrays the moments preceding the story’s climax, as the aged Simeon is about to hold Christ and, in recognising him, fulfil his destiny.

This work was painted for Bartolomeo Fabri, one of Guercino’s early patrons, who lived in the artist’s native Cento. It was returned to Guercino in settlement of a debt, and he kept it by his bedside until he was eventually persuaded to sell it in 1660.

In-depth

Mary and Joseph brought the infant Christ, forty days after his birth, to be presented in the Temple in Jerusalem. According to Jewish custom, all first-born male children were to be taken to the Temple to be presented to God in a ceremony that involved the sacrifice of two doves or pigeons, which can be seen here at the foot of the altar.

The elderly seated figure on the right is the high priest Simeon. The Gospel of Luke says the Holy Ghost had told Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. With the aged priest about to receive the infant Christ in his arms, Guercino captures the moments preceding this story’s climax. In the seconds that follow, Simeon recognises Christ and realises that his destiny has been fulfilled. Embracing death, he utters, ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation’ (Luke 2: 29.)

Guercino painted this work in 1623, shortly after returning to his native Cento from a two-year stay in Rome. During his time there he had seen the work of Domenichino, whose influence is apparent in the clearly defined planes and recession of space in this picture, as well as in the evenly dispersed light and vibrant use of colour. Architecture features more prominently here than in Guercino’s pre-Roman works, which are often crowded with figures tightly cropped by the picture frame (such as, for example, in The Incredulity of Saint Thomas). Guercino has used the architecture to carefully construct the space, and has paid attention to the decorative elements, including the stone steps and sculpted bas-relief on the altar.

Despite some evolution, aspects of Guercino’s early style remain. The naturalistic, aged figure of Saint Joseph in the centre resembles Elijah from Guercino’s 1620 painting Elijah fed by Ravens. With his aged, weathered face, Joseph presents a contrast to the young Virgin and infant Christ. His slightly dishevelled appearance and simple clothing are set against the immaculately dressed high priest. Simeon’s embroidered cope is remarkably similar to that of Saint Gregory in Guercino’s Saint Gregory the Great with Saints Ignatius Loyola and Francis Xavier.

This painting is unusually large for a work on copper. Because copper was an expensive material, these pictures were typically smaller; like, for example, Guercino’s The Dead Christ Mourned by Two Angels. The artist makes the most of the copper’s smooth and luminous surface, painting with great delicacy (note the ducks in the basket of the candlestick on the altar) but also attaining monumentality in the figures. Guercino used an opaque orange ground for this work which is visible in parts of the image, particularly the architecture in the upper right section of the painting.

The picture was painted for Bartolomeo Fabri, one of Guercino’s early patrons who lived in the artist’s native Cento. (Fabri had also commissioned The Incredulity of Saint Thomas from Guercino two years earlier). The painting was later returned to the artist in settlement of a debt. According to his biographer, Carlo Cesare Malvasia, Guercino kept the painting by his bed and refused offers from numerous distinguished collectors looking to buy it, including Cardinal Antonio Barberini and Cardinal Prince Leopoldo de’ Medici. Guercino eventually sold it in 1660 to Raphael Dufresne, who offered a substantial sum and presented the artist with an inscribed copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Trattato della pittura (Treatise on Painting).

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
Artist: Guercino
Artist dates: 1591 - 1666
Date made: 1623
Medium and support: oil on copper
Dimensions: 72.5 × 65 cm
Acquisition credit: Bequeathed by Sir Denis Mahon CH CBE FBA, 2011; entered the Collection, 2013
Inventory number: NG6646
Location: Room 26
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: George Granville Leveson Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland
Frame: 17th-century Italian Frame

Provenance

Painted in 1623 for Bartolomeo Fabri of Cento, by whom later returned to Guercino in settlement of a debt (some time before 1642); sold by Guercino to Raphael Trichet Dufresne in December 1660; Abbé François de Camps collection, from which it passed to that of the Duc d’Orléans, Palais Royal, by 1727; acquired by the Earl Gower as part of his share of the Orléans collection in the 1790s; sold, London, Peter Coxe, Burrell & Foster, 13 May 1802, lot 63, when purchased by the 2nd Earl of Ashburnham; offered for sale, London, 20 July 1850, lot 81 (unsold); remained in the Ashburnham collection until acquired by Sir Denis Mahon in 1953; on loan to the National Gallery since 1977; bequeathed by Sir Denis Mahon, CH CBE FBA, 2011; permanently entered the collection, 2013, NG6646.

Additional information

This painting is included in a list of works with incomplete provenance from 1933–1945; for more information see Whereabouts of paintings 1933–1945.

Text extracted from the National Gallery’s Annual Report, ‘The National Gallery: Review of the Year, April 2012 – March 2013’.

Bibliography

1678

C.C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice: Vite de' pittori bolognesi, Bologna 1678
1727

L.D. de Saint-Gelais, Description des tableaux du Palais Royal: Avec la vie des peintres à la tête de leurs ouvrages: Dédiée à Monseigneur le duc d'Orleans, premier prince du sang, Paris 1727
1745

A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville, Abrégé de la vie des plus fameux peintres, Paris 1745
1749

A.-N. Dézallier d'Argenville, Voyage pittoresque de Paris, ou, Indication de tout ce qu'il y a de plus beau dans cette grande ville, en peinture, sculpture, & architecture, Paris 1749
1762

A.-J. Dézallier d'Argenville, Abrégé de la vie des plus fameux peintres, nouv. éd, Paris 1762
1808

J.A. Calvi, Notizie della vita e delle opere del Cavaliere Gian Francesco Barbieri detto il Guercino da Cento, Bologna 1808
1824

W. Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting: With a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England Since the French Revolution, London 1824
1884

E. Bonaffé, Dictionnaire des amateurs français au XVIIe siècle, Paris 1884
1947

D. Mahon, Studies in Seicento Art and Theory, London 1947
1953

G. Briganti, 'The Mahon Collection of Seicento Paintings', The Connoisseur, CXXXII, 1953, pp. 4-18
1968

D. Mahon, Il Guercino: Catalogo critico dei dipinti (exh. cat. Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, 1 September - 18 November 1968), Bologna 1968
1988

L. Salerno, I dipinti del Guercino, Rome 1988
1989

D. Mahon CH CBE FBA and N. Turner, The Drawings of Guercino in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, Cambridge 1989
1991

D.M. Stone, Guercino: Catalogo completo dei dipinti, Florence 1991
1991

M. Helston et al., 'Guercino in Britain: Paintings from British Collections', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXIII/1060, 1991, pp. i-iv, 1-68
1991

M. Helston et al., Guercino in Britain: Paintings from British Collections (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 28 June - 31 July 1991), London 1991
1991

D. Mahon, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Il Guercino, 1591-1666 (exh. cat. Museo civico archeologico, 6 July - 10 November 1991; Schirn Kunsthalle, 2 December 1991 - 9 February 1992; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 15 March - 17 May 1992), Bologna 1991
1994

A. Schnapper, Curieux du Grand Siècle: Collections et collectionneurs dans la France du XVIIe siècl, Paris 1994
1997

G. Finaldi et al., Discovering the Baroque: The Denis Mahon Collection (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 26 February - 18 May 1997), London 1997
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2004

D. Mahon et al., Guercino: Poesia e sentimento nella pittura del'600 (exh. cat. Palazzo Reale (Milan), 27 September 2003 - 18 January 2004), Milan 2004
2014

National Gallery, The National Gallery: Review of the Year, April 2012 - March 2013, London 2014

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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You've viewed 6 of 8 works

Guercino, 'The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple', 1623

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Questions: 1933–1945

Source

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Guercino