The presentation of the Virgin Mary at the Temple. Etching after C. Maratta.

According to the Protoevangelium of James, the parents of the Virgin, Joachim and Anne, presented her as a child in the temple at Jerusalem as a thank-offering after years of childlessness. The priest Zacharias receives Mary; her parents can be seen behind her. Her eagerness to leave them is recounted in the Protevangelium of James; in that text, however, she is a mere three years old, unlike the youthful virgin we see here. Temple virgins can be seen with candles in the background. A woman on the right holds a basket containing two sacrificial turtledoves