Worth Revisiting: Art Celebrates the Presentation

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In the apoc9ccc169fdf798f2b987391cfe796e806ryphal Infancy Narrative of James, Mary’s parents,  Joachim and Anne,  had been childless but received a heavenly message- they would have a child.
In thanksgiving for the gift of their daughter, they brought her, when still a child, to the Temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God.
Tradition held that she was to remain there to be educated in preparation for her role as Mother of God. most of the paintings capture a sense of Mary’s purity, of course, but also a combination of youth, vulnerability and her core strength at the all at the same time.

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