Luca Giordano
The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple

1671
Church of Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, Italy

The high priest wears the holy crown and breastplate of Aaron. He welcomes Mary, who is trailed by her two parents and a man in red. Following Tintoretto's painting of the same subject, Giordano puts a young girl dressed like Mary at the foot of the steps with her mother, who encourages her to follow in Mary's footsteps and thus models parenting for the viewer. The second mother and daughter also provide contrast as in Tintoretto, but this time it is the daughter who turns her back to the scene. Giordano also adopted Tintoretto's tactic of putting Mary in full light and the high priest in shadow.

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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.