Presentation in the Temple

The Virgin Mary and the old Simeon are holding the Child Jesus, whose body has an unusually muscular form, while the other characters are participating indirectly in the act of the Presentation, acting as companions and acolytes.
Particularly notable in this panel is its rich and detailed iconography. Prominent in the foreground is the female figure, depicted from behind, who is holding a basket with three pigeons in her left hand. This is an interesting iconography, since, according to the law of Moses, "a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons" were to be offered up in sacrifice. In the tondo placed on the upper part of the wall at the back, in the centre of the panel, we see a representation of a theme from the Old Testament: the angel holds Abraham’s hand at the moment of Isaac’s Sacrifice. In the same wall at the back of the temple, allowing us to glimpse an architectural background, is an already Renaissance portico, surmounted by the Portuguese shield.
The same highly descriptive details can be seen in the central figures and their accompanying garments: the old Simeon is richly adorned, placed under a brocaded canopy with some delicately transparent candelabra. The blemishes that are visible in the physical materials, such as the small ceramic fragment that is becoming detached from the pavement, give the painting a necessary realism, while the simplification of the pictorial technique is evident in the modelling of some volumes and carnations – in the female figure that is represented from behind, for example, there is no pictorial treatment given at the level of the face. This simplification, together with some incongruencies in the representation of the space, the evident monumentality of the figures and the use that is made of bright, contrasting colours, all result from the need to adapt these painted panels to large altarpieces.