Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple

Since its first publication by Grassi in 1956, the present drawing has been considered to be part of a series of pen-and-ink drawings illustrating scenes from the Life of the Virgin. The connection had been independently recognized by Janos Scholz. Four of the series are in the Ambrosiana, Milan: Joachim Cast Out of the Temple, The Annunciation to Anne, The Meeting of Anna and Joachim at the Golden Gate and Christ(?) Presented at the Temple/The Offering in the Temple (inv. Cod. F 271 inf., nos. 61, 60, and 62; Cod. F. 265 inf., no. 81; Ruggeri 1979, 19-20, nos. 5-7); the fifth drawing from the series, the Birth of the Virgin, formerly in the Koenigs Collection, and also once part of the Vallardi collection, is now in the Boijmans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam (inv. I, 35; Tietze and Tietze-Conrat 1944, no. 608, XXV, 1; a final drawing was recently on the New York art market. The drawings may have been for predella scenes.

Since their first publication, the drawings have been continually associated with an anonymous artist from the circle of Vittore Carpaccio, who may well have been a provincial follower rather than a member of the Venetian workshop. There appears to be little basis for the attempts to identify the artist as Lazzaro Bastiani (recorded 1449-1512), Lattanzio da Rimini, or Boccaccio Boccacino (Cremona, probably 1465-1525).