The Presentation of Christ in the Temple

1645

Charles Le Brun French, 1619-1690

On View

European: 17th Century French, Level 2, South Wing

European: Poussin, Level 2, South Wing

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Published References

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About the Artwork

This early work by Charles Le Brun, whom Louis XIV, King of France, dubbed "the greatest French painter of all time" was intended as an altarpiece for the chapal of the Hotel-Dieu, a hospital in the French city of Lyon where Le Brun stayed on his return from artistic training in Rome. The devout expressions of the central figures with their upraised eyes and upturned faces are typical of Le Brun's enduring interest in depicting human emotion in a clear, understandable manner. Even viewers unfamiliar with the biblical account of the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple would understand that the event is intended to inspire reverence and awe. As director of the Royal Academy, the major teaching institution in the French Art world, Le Brun went on to revolutionize the representation of expression and gesture in French painting.

Title The Presentation of Christ in the Temple

Artwork Date 1645

Artist Charles Le Brun

Life Dates 1619-1690

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. French

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 105 1/8 × 76 1/2 inches (267 × 194.3 cm) Overall (stretcher): 107 × 78 7/8 inches (271.8 × 200.3 cm) Framed: 122 × 92 7/8 × 4 1/2 inches, 230 pounds (309.9 × 235.9 × 11.4 cm, 104.3 kg)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Founders Society Purchase, contribution of Mr. and Mrs. Allan Shelden III in memory of Allan Shelden IV

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 73.1

Markings

Signed Signed and dated, lower left: C. Le Brun Par. Fec. Romae anno 1645

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

Collection Etienne Cochardet [1597-1661, merchant clothier and treasurer of merchant-clothiers' guild in Lyons] (Lyons, France)

1647, sold to Chapel of the Hôtel-Dieu (Lyons, France)

Chapel of the Chateau de Fléchères, Collection Count Olivier de La Ferrière (Fareins, Ain, France)

by descent to the inheritors of Count de La Ferrière

sold to (Galerie Heim, Paris, France)

1973-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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Published References

Clapasson, André. Histoire et Description de la Ville de Lyon. Lyon, 1761, p. 53. [describing the painting while in church of the Hôtel-Dieu in Lyons, France]

Jouin, Henry. Charles le Brun et les Arts sous Louis XIV. Paris, 1889, p. 470. [citing engraving by Benoît Ier Audran]

French Paintings & Sculptures of the 17th Century (Part I). Exh. cat., Heim Gallery. London, 1968, p. 16, cat. 31 (ill.).

Butler, Joseph T. "Le Brun Altarpiece for Detroit." Connoisseur 183, no. 736 (June 1973): p. 136 (ill.).

Cummings, Frederick J. "Curatorial and Museum Department Reports." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 52, no. 1 (1973): 8–10, pp. 8–9 (ill.).

"Musées." Connaissance des Arts 255 (May 1973): p. 11 (ill.).

"New Acquisition for Detroit." Apollo 97, no. 135 (May 1973): p. 540 (ill.).

Cuzin, Jean-Pierre and Pierre Rosenberg. "A Le Brun at Ponce." Burlington Magazine 116, no. 850 (January 1974): 4–7, p. 4, note 1.

Chomer, Gilles. "'The Purification of the Virgin' by Charles Le Brun: A Few Notes." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 55, no. 4 (1977): 183–189, pp. 183–189 (ill.). [as "The Purification of the Virgin"]

Chomer, Gilles. "Charles Le Brun avant 1646: Contribution aux Problemes de sa Formation et de ses Oeuvres de Jeunesse." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Francais (1977): 93–106, p. 101–102 (ill.). [as "La Purification de la Vierge"]

Cummings, Frederick J., ed. Selected Works from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1979, p. 105, no. 76 (ill.). [as "Purification of the Virgin"]

Rosenberg, Pierre. France in the Golden Age: Seventeenth-Century French Paintings in American Collections. Exh. cat., Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. New York, 1982, p. 355, no. 6 (ill.). [not in the exhibition; as "The Purification"]

Henshaw, Julia, ed. A Visitor's Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1995, p. 204 (ill.). [as "The Purification of the Virgin"]

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Charles Le Brun, The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, 1645, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, contribution of Mr. and Mrs. Allan Shelden III in memory of Allan Shelden IV, 73.1.