This painting by Andrea Mantegna was probably commissioned to adorn not a church or chapel but a domestic interior. One views the figures in the Presentation story as if through a window. There is a Byzantine stillness here. Mantegna was known for the chiselled quality of his painted figures, often depicted in foreshortened perspective—a kind of sculpture in two dimensions rather than three. The striking verticality of the stiffly swaddled infant directly parallels the equally striking verticality of Simeon’s profile and lengthy beard. Grouped around these two verticals, the remaining figures create two overlapping and geometrically perfect ‘golden sections’—a compositional tour de force underscoring the harmony and joy expressed in Simeon’s song (Blass-Simmen 2018: 42).

The Virgin’s forearm gently protrudes towards the viewer’s side of the virtual window, as do the pillow on which the swaddled child rests, and Simeon’s outstretched left hand. By breaking through the picture plane the artist gives us the impression that his figures share the same space as us. He makes the viewer a direct witness to the action. And the viewer is not alone. Most scholars agree that on the right Mantegna has included his own self-portrait, and on the left, a portrait of Nicolosa Bellini, his new bride. This painting may be intended as a joyful celebration of the birth of Andrea and Nicolosa’s first child, to which the viewer is an invited guest (Rowley 2018: 58–59).

But amidst the painting’s muted colours and strong geometrical structure, this joy seems shadowed by impending loss. The mood is solemn, the emotions inscrutable. Perhaps this is why Nicolosia looks away from the action. The swaddled infant looks away as well, a troubled expression on its face. Those swaddling clothes, so tightly wound, double as a shroud—a hint of this child’s destiny, a harbinger of the cross and tomb. It’s as if Nicolosia knew.

References

Blass-Simmen, Brigit. 2018. ‘One Cartoon—Two Paintings’, in Bellini/Mantegna: Masterpieces Face-to-Face—The Presentation in the Temple, ed. by Dario Cimarelli (Milan: Silvani Editoriale), pp. 35-49

Rowley, Neville. 2018. ‘Critical Fortunes and Worldly Vicissitudes in Andrea Mantegna’s Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, Now at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin’, in Bellini/Mantegna: Masterpieces Face-to-Face—The Presentation in the Temple, ed. by Dario Cimarelli (Milan: Silvani Editoriale), pp. 51–61