# The Presentation in the Temple [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [LORENZETTI, Ambrogio]() - Date: 1301-1350 - Technique: Tempera on wood, gold background, 257 x 168 cm ## Commentary The space in this painting is revolutionary. It is penetrated in a manner unprecedented since Roman antiquity. The complex Gothic frame establishes the impression of a lofty gateway through which we gaze into an interior where the light is dimmed by a stained-glass window. Slender column uphold the ribbed vaults of the nave, which are decorated with gold stars on a blue background. This masterpiece was painted for the chapel of San Crescenzio in the transept of the Cathedral of Siena. Originally a triptych, the documented pair of saints that flanked this altarpiece is lost. It was part of a small group of altarpieces, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and her life, painted by Siena's most important artists in the first half of the 14th century for the five transept altars in the Cathedral. The panel is inscribed at the bottom with the painter's name and the date, 1342: AMBROSIUS LAURENTII DE SENIS FECIT HOC OPUS ANNO DOMINI MCCCCXLII. ## Related artworks - [A Group of Four Poor Clares]() - [Allegory of Bad Government \(detail\)]() - [Allegory of the Good Government \(detail\)]() - [Allegory of the Good Government \(detail\)]() - [Allegory of the Good Government \(left view, detail\)]() - [Allegory of the Good Government \(left view, detail\)]() - [Allegory of the Good Government]() - [Altarpiece of St Proculus]() - [Annunciation]() - [Bad Government and the Effects of Bad Government on the City Life]() - [Effects of Bad Government on the City Life \(detail\)]() - [Effects of Bad Government on the Countryside \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()