DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: We're
in the Uffizi in Florence, and we're looking at Ambrogio
Lorenzetti's "Presentation in the Temple." Now, Ambrogio Lorenzetti
was one of two brothers. The other was Pietro Lorenzetti. And they were both students
of the great early Siennese master, Duccio. This is one of Ambrogio
Lorenzetti's most important paintings. And it tells the story early
in the New Testament narrative of Christ being brought to
the temple to be circumcised. This is the moment when
Simeon is presenting Christ to the temple and
Anna, the seer, is recognizing Christ as the
Redeemer and points him out. What I find so
interesting is that, whereas Christ is so often
represented as all-knowing even as an infant, here, he
really looks like an infant. DR. BETH HARRIS: He is, and
he's putting his fingers in his mouth. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: It's hard
to miss the beautiful emphasis on architecture. And this is something that
Ambrogio often emphasizes. Look at the Gothic
characteristics of this church. This panel was originally
intended for the Duomo in Sienna. And so it would itself have been
this great Gothic environment. But look at the way in which
we look back towards the apse, through this nave. There's all this fabulous
emphasis on these vaguely Corinthian columns and lots
of paint on the ceiling. For instance, we can see
a Christ in the mandorla with angels. We can see ribbed
vaults, which actually have painted gold stars
against a blue ground, very much like we would expect
to see in a 14th century church. DR. BETH HARRIS: And we
have an illusion of space. If we look down at the
floor, we see diagonal lines that appear to
recede into space, although this is not correct
use of linear perspective. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: It's not. But it is an attempt to
create a sense of recession. Just look at the
capitals and the way they allow our eye to move
back slowly but deliberately into space as one space
opens up into another. And there is mystery and drama. And what's so
interesting is that we see this wonderful
transhistorical representation of Christ, this ancient figure,
in a modern Gothic environment, wonderfully aligning the
past and the present. DR. BETH HARRIS: So
in some way, that would have made a Siennese
person in the 1300s really be able to relate
to what was going on here. DR. STEVEN ZUCKER: I
think that that's right, making this ancient
scene immediate.