The fifteen secrets of the rosary: Simeon and the Christ-child in the temple

Teniers's small panel on copper depicting the rosary mystery of Simeon and the Christ child in the Temple belongs to a series of fifteen rosary secrets painted around 1650. The rosary mysteries — events in the lives of Christ and Mary meditating on Christian salvation — were popular subjects for devotional series in the Counter-Reformation. Painted on copper, which allows a jewel-like surface and fine detail, the series was likely intended for private devotion. Teniers's religious works are less well known than his genre scenes but demonstrate his ability to work in multiple registers simultaneously.

Copper support allows exceptionally fine brushwork and luminous color — the characteristic advantages of this support for small devotional images. Teniers handles the scene with more gravity than his tavern subjects while retaining his characteristic clarity of composition. The figures occupy a convincingly architecturally specific temple space.