The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple

Paolo di Giovanni Fei's Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, now in the Samuel H. Kress Collection, depicts the apocryphal story of the three-year-old Mary ascending the temple steps alone to dedicate her life to God — a subject drawn from the Protoevangelium of James and the Golden Legend. This event was celebrated as a major feast in the medieval liturgical calendar, and its depiction allowed artists to create elaborate architectural settings symbolizing the heavenly Jerusalem. Fei's version, painted in 1398, represents the culmination of the Sienese narrative tradition.

Painted in tempera on gold-ground panel, the composition features an elaborate Gothic architectural setting rendered with the miniaturist precision characteristic of Sienese narrative painting. The small-scale figures arranged on and around the temple steps demonstrate Fei's skill in managing complex spatial relationships within the gold-ground format.