Beskrivning: Se även beskrivning i den engelska versionen

Catalogue raisonné: 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.
413–416. [END]

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Marten Pepyn | Simeon i templet | Nationalmuseum