The High Priest Refusing Joachim's Offering

Jordaens’ The High Priest Refusing Joachim’s Offering shows the artist exploring composition, volume and space. His figures are rendered schematically and avoid unnecessary detail, but he is careful to note the directions of their gazes, thus creating relationships. The thick border appears to have been applied at the end to frame the image, possibly for presentation to a client before a painting was begun. The border defines the limits of the composition, providing a good test of its balance, recession and pictorial unity.