According to Christian legend, Mary and Joseph took their new son, Jesus, to the Temple in Jerusalem where two people immediately recognized him as the Messiah, the son of God. One was an old man called Simeon; the other was a pious old woman named Anna. In the Middle Ages, Anna was often included in portrayals of the presentation at the Temple or the Circumcision. Here, Rembrandt van Rijn show St. Anna reading a Hebrew bible.