File:Simeon in the Temple (Marten Pepyn) - Nationalmuseum - 18101.tif

English: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 146:

Technical notes: The support consists of five vertically joined oak boards with a vertical grain. The panel is about 1.2 cm in thickness. On the verso the top and bottom edges have been chamfered with about 1.2–1.7 cm to fit an auxiliary frame. On the verso the right and left edges have been bevelled somewhat and may have been cut. The individual boards are of different thickness and also display traces of tools marks, probably a saw. Dendrochronological examination has determined a felling date for the tree between c. 1596 and 1606. The wood originated from the Baltic region. Assuming a median of 15 sapwood rings and a minimum of 2 years for seasoning of the wood, the most plausible date for use of the panel would be 1604 or later.

The preparation consists of a white ground, probably chalk, applied thickly and evenly with a broad brush to cover the structure of the support completely. Barbes are present at the top and bottom of the panel about 1.0–1.2 cm. There is a semi-transparent grey “streaky” imprimatura applied with a broad, flat brush.

Infrared reflectography revealed an extensive dark underdrawing, rapidly executed in a dry medium, probably black chalk, delineating the contours of the figures, sometimes with multiple contour lines, their facial features and hair, the draperies, sometimes with parallel hatching diagonally in the depths of the folds and the curtain at the top. This initial sketch, which sometimes indicates alternative positions for the figures, was generally not slavishly adhered to in the final painting. Numerous pentimenti also occur at the painting stage, as, for example, in the foreshortening of the outstretched arm and the face of the putto at the upper right. The paint layers have been applied opaquely in several layers from dark to light and in some cases finished with glazes. The highlights are rendered with a light impasto, the background with rapid brushstrokes. In places the imprimatura forms part of the painting, as for instance in Mary with the thin veil in her hair and the seated woman to the left, whose white headscarf is part of the imprimatura. There is a great amount of craquelure resulting from the deterioration of opaquely and thickly applied blue and green paint layers. On the whole several pigments and glazes (blue, green and red pigments, madder) have altered appearance or faded. The paint layer is also applied semi-transparently in garments, as in Joseph’s cloak in madder, for instance, which is rendered thinly over the imprimatura, which is partly visible through it. The piece of fabric hanging loosely over the gown is probably in a yellow pigment that decomposed to become yellowish-brown (orpiment?) and which was applied over darker underpainting. A reserve was left in the background for the architecture. In the sky, between the arches there is a dark blue underpainting. Mary’s gown was painted after the red kirtle. A reserve was left for the fabric on which the infant Jesus rests, its white paint layer has partly saponified. The flesh tones are finely modelled with thin, delicate brushstrokes. The painting underwent conservation treatment in 1927, 1959 and 1997.

Provenance: Purchased in 1870.

Bibliography: NM Cat. 1871, p. 78; Göthe 1887, p. 192; Göthe 1893, pp. 236–237; Göthe 1900, p. 245; NM Cat. 1958, p. 152; Hairs 1977, p. 38, fig. 8; NM Cat.1990, p. 269; De Maere-Wabbes 1994, p. 321, plates L–Z, p. 966.

This monumental painting by Marten Pepyn was purchased from a General Silfverstolpe in 1870 according to Göthe 1887. It forms one of two versions of the motif of The Presentation of Jesus to Simeon in the Temple painted by Martyn Pepyn. A somewhat smaller version of the motif originating from the Lanfranconi collection in Pressburg is signed “M. Poepyn. F”.1 The Nationalmuseum’s painting is rich in detail, both where the religious figures and the image itself are concerned. In the foreground, as in Pepyn’s triptych of St. Elisabeth, the aged prophetess Anna is seated looking at the viewer and gesturing towards the religious events depicted. The position she occupies, the direction of her gaze and her gestures separate her from the other figures in the image. Emphasis is placed on her function as an intermediary between the work and the viewer.

The main scene in the painting consists of the aged Simeon holding the infant Jesus in his arms. Simeon is glancing upwards at the divinity, represented here by a ray of light cast over the image from an opening in the roof, to emphasise the deeper content of the biblical text. The other figures are indicating the two protagonists by their gestures or the direction of their gaze. Some are talking to each other about the miracle enacted before their eyes. The scene takes place in a tightly composed group in an interior with pillars and artfully draped hangings, against a background with a portico that evokes associations with temple or ecclesiastical architecture. Putti hover around the divine light that radiates from the opening in the roof. The motif of this painting alludes to the Gospel of St. Luke 2: v 22–40.2 This passage describes how Mary and Joseph went to the Temple with the infant Jesus “to present him to the Lord /…/ and to offer a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. (v. 22,24). According to the gospeller, in the temple was a just and devout man who was named Simeon, unto whom had been “revealed by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s anointed” (v. 26). When he saw the infant Jesus he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation’”. (v. 28–30). “And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary, his mother, ‘Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel’”. (v. 36–37). And Anna also gave thanks to the Lord ”and spoke of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (v. 38).

This narrative from the Gospel of St. Luke had earlier been the subject of numerous artistic interpretations in which the emphasis was placed on one or several episodes. In Pepyn’s work the concentration is not on the presentation in the temple but the event in which the aged Simeon takes the infant Jesus in his arms, an encounter with profound religious, psychological and existential import. This meeting grants the aged Simeon permission to die, while the infant Jesus represents the future. The Virgin Mary and Joseph stand close to the main scene while the gesture of the eighty-four year old Anna invites the viewer to enter the work and therefore share the content of the miracle. The figures are depicted with palpable plasticity and in virtually static poses. The large number of figures have been compressed into a small area. They are depicted in garments that are characterised by their expressively rendered folds. The wealth of figures in Martyn Pepyn’s composition offers a tangible contrast to the work by Rembrandt, for instance, in the Nationalmuseum’s collections (Simeon in the Temple, NM 4567) which is based on the same biblical passage but in which the entire focus is on the encounter between Simeon and the Infant Christ.3 KS

1 The other version originating from the Lanfranconi collection in Pressburg was offered for sale at Cologne (Galerie Heberle, 21 October 1895) after previously having been in London (sold, Niewsand, 9 June 1886). Se Hairs 1977, p. 28. 2 This biblical passage and its different interpretations, in particular by Rembrandt, see Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, “Simeon and the Christ Child” in Rembrandt and His Age. Focus on Man, Nationalmusei exhibition catalogue no. 552, Stockholm 1992, pp. 31–40. 3 See G. Cavalli-Björkman, Dutch and Flemish Paintings II, no 419, pp.

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