La Présentation de Jésus au temple

Noel Bellemare's La Présentation de Jésus au temple, painted around 1512 and now at the Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy, depicts the moment forty days after Christ's birth when Mary and Joseph brought the infant to the Temple in Jerusalem to be consecrated to God and to perform the purification rites prescribed by Mosaic law — an event commemorated in the Christian feast of Candlemas. Bellemare was a Flemish illuminator and panel painter active in Antwerp who combined the meticulous precision of manuscript illumination with the compositional ambition of large-scale panel painting. The work demonstrates the close relationship between book illumination and panel painting in the Flemish tradition.

The jewel-like clarity of manuscript illumination transfers to panel format in Bellemare's work. Figures are arranged in an architectural interior with the precision of miniature painting scaled up. Color is brilliant and enamel-like, with gold details in vestments and architectural ornament.