GIOTTO di Bondone
(b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze)

No. 19 Scenes from the Life of Christ: 3. Presentation of Christ at the Temple

1304-06
Fresco, 200 x 185 cm
Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

The baby Jesus wriggles in the arms of a priest, at whom he is looking, and reaches out for his mother, who approaches with open arms. These three figures are supported by the architecture behind them, and thus solemnly united as a group.

The temple in this scene is the same as that which appears in the Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple and the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, but this time we are shown only the shrine over the altar.