Around 1654 Rembrandt depicted four events in the life of Christ in the same format, paying special attention to the light. In this first print in the series the aged Simeon is shown holding the newborn Jesus in the Temple.

He realizes that the infant is the long-awaited Saviour.

Rembrandt left a thin layer of ink on the print (surface tone) causing the scene to loom out of a mysterious semi-darkness.