Purification of the Virgin

The Purification of the Virgin — the ceremony of Mary's ritual purification forty days after giving birth, as prescribed by Mosaic law in Leviticus 12 — is theologically identical to the Presentation of Christ at the Temple described in Luke 2, and the two subjects are often depicted as a single scene. The Philadelphia Museum of Art holds Gozzoli's treatment of this subject alongside the Presentation, suggesting these panels may have formed a related series or predella sequence. In Gozzoli's Tuscan cultural context, the Feast of the Purification (Candlemas, February 2) was among the most important of the Marian liturgical calendar, celebrated with candle processions that had ancient roots. The image of Mary ritually submitting to the Temple's requirements despite being mother of the divine child carried theological resonance around the virtue of humility: even the Mother of God observed the prescribed laws of her people.

The scene's architectural setting — the Temple's interior — required Gozzoli to deploy his perspective skills in rendering column-lined spaces with receding floors. His typical approach creates a shallow stage-like foreground for the principal figures, with architecture receding in the middle ground. The priest at the altar and the attendant figures create a rhythmic horizontal composition within the vertical temple space.