Description of the painting by Andrei Ivanovich Ivanov “The Descent of the Lord”

Description of the painting by Andrei Ivanovich Ivanov The Descent of the Lord

The painting “The Presentation of the Lord” was painted by Ivanov in the second half of the 1800s. On it, the artist depicted the gospel story of the meeting of Simeon with the baby Jesus in the temple of Jerusalem.

According to the rite on the fortieth day after the birth of the firstborn, parents had to bring a symbolic ransom of Jerusalem to the temple – an annual lamb and a young pigeon or a turtle dove. A poor family could bring a pair of pigeons.

When the family brought the baby Jesus to the temple so that he would appear before the Lord. Met them old Simeon.

By giving Simeon – one of the Jews translators into Greek. Translating the book of Isaiah, he doubted the prophet’s writings. Then an angel appeared to him and prophesied that Semin would live in immortality until he saw Christ the Lord. And that day came.

When they arrived on the fortieth day, Joseph the Conner and the Most Holy Mother of God with the Baby Jesus went to Jerusalem to carry out the commands of the Law. And he lifted up into the hands of Christ and cried out with undisguised joy. He finally waited for the meeting and asked for the end of his life. For more than three hundred years, Semin lived in the world, waiting for this meeting with Christ, which was prophesied by the entries in the book of Isaiah.

Ivanov depicted in the picture of Simeon with the baby in his arms, standing not a pedestal in front of the servants of the temple. And parents kneeling with offerings. Also depicted is a man, a boy, a woman in a black robe – this is Anna the Prophetess, who also recognized the Lord as a baby. All of them became involuntary witnesses of the meeting of Simeon and Jesus. So the meeting came, the meeting of the Old and New Testaments.

Today, the painting of the Lord by Andrei Ivanovich Ivanov is in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.


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Description of the painting by Andrei Ivanovich Ivanov “The Descent of the Lord”