Stone gray ground serves as a base for a step on which the priest Simeon stands. Standing with one foot on the step, Mary, identified by a delicate nimbus, offers the Infant Jesus, behind her slightly shadowed Joseph. Simeon will recognize in the child the Redeemer, the Messiah, who enlightens the Gentiles and shines as a savior for the people of Israel. The composition is based on a pictorial invention by Simonelli's model Luca Giordano, whose collaborator he was