The artist illustrates the presentation of Jesus in the temple and the purification of Mary, forty days after giving birth, according to the Jewish rite. Mary, recognizable by her usual blue mantle and red dress, has just given Simeon the Child. Just behind the priest, a priestess observes the scene curiously with joined hands. Perhaps she is the prophetess Anna, who together with Simeon, recognized in Christ the figure of the Messiah. On the left, in the shadow, St. Joseph is represented (recognizable by the halo and the staff). He carries a white dove which is to be offered as a sacrifice.