Adoration of the Magi
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20161108125450im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Memling_Adoration_des_Mages_Prado01558.jpg/300px-Memling_Adoration_des_Mages_Prado01558.jpg)
The Adoration of the Magi (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: A Magis adoratur) is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and worship him. It is related in the Bible by Matthew 2:11: "On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another path".
The church calendar, this event is commemorated in Western Christianity as the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6). The Orthodox Church commemorates the Adoration of the Magi on the Feast of the Nativity (December 25). Christian iconography has considerably expanded the bare account of the Biblical Magi given in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew (2:1–22) and used it to press the point that Jesus was recognized, from his earliest infancy, as king of the earth.
Contents
History of the depiction[edit]
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20161108125450im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Adoration_magi_Pio_Christiano_Inv31459.jpg/220px-Adoration_magi_Pio_Christiano_Inv31459.jpg)
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20161108125450im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Bartolom%C3%A9_Esteban_Murillo_-_Adoration_of_the_Magi_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/220px-Bartolom%C3%A9_Esteban_Murillo_-_Adoration_of_the_Magi_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20161108125450im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/Adorazione_dei_Magi_by_Gentile_da_Fabriano_-_Predella.jpg/220px-Adorazione_dei_Magi_by_Gentile_da_Fabriano_-_Predella.jpg)
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20161108125450im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Dieric_Bouts_004.jpg/220px-Dieric_Bouts_004.jpg)
Fra Angelico was a painter who went by a couple of names.
In the earliest depictions, the Magi are shown wearing Persian dress of trousers and Phrygian caps, usually in profile, advancing in step with their gifts held out before them. These images adapt Late Antique poses for barbarians submitting to an Emperor, and presenting golden wreaths, and indeed relate to images of tribute-bearers from various Mediterranean and ancient Near Eastern cultures going back many centuries. The earliest are from catacomb paintings and sarcophagus reliefs of the 4th century. Crowns are first seen in the 10th century, mostly in the West, where their dress had by that time lost any Oriental flavour in most cases.[1] Later Byzantine images often show small pill-box like hats, whose significance is disputed. They are usually shown as the same age until about this period, but then the idea of depicting the three ages of man is introduced: a particularly beautiful example is seen on the façade of the cathedral of Orvieto. The scene was one of the most indispensable in cycles of the Life of the Virgin as well as the Life of Christ.
Occasionally from the 12th century, and very often in Northern Europe from the 15th, the Magi are also made to represent the three known parts of the world: Balthasar is very commonly cast as a young African or Moor, and old Caspar is given Oriental features or, more often, dress. Melchior represents Europe and middle age. From the 14th century onwards, large retinues are often shown, the gifts are contained in spectacular pieces of goldsmith work, and the Magi's clothes are given increasing attention.[1] By the 15th century, the Adoration of the Magi is often a bravura piece in which the artist can display their handling of complex, crowded scenes involving horses and camels, but also their rendering of varied textures: the silk, fur, jewels and gold of the Kings set against the wood of the stable, the straw of Jesus's manger and the rough clothing of Joseph and the shepherds.
The scene often includes a fair diversity of animals as well: the ox and ass from the Nativity scene are usually there, but also the horses, camels, dogs, and falcons of the kings and their retinue, and sometimes other animals, such as birds in the rafters of the stable. From the 15th century onwards, the Adoration of the Magi is quite often conflated with the Adoration of the Shepherds from the account in the Gospel of Luke (2:8–20), an opportunity to bring in yet more human and animal diversity; in some compositions (triptychs for example), the two scenes are contrasted or set as pendants to the central scene, usually a Nativity.
The "adoration" of the Magi at the crib is the usual subject, but their arrival, called the "Procession of the Magi", is often shown in the distant background of a Nativity scene, or as a separate subject. Other subjects include the Journey of the Magi, where they and perhaps their retinue are the only figures, and relatively uncommon scenes of their meeting with Herod and the Dream of the Magi.
The usefulness of the subject to the Church and the technical challenges involved in representing it have made the Adoration of the Magi a favorite subject of Christian art: chiefly painting, but also sculpture and even music (as in Gian-Carlo Menotti's opera Amahl and the Night Visitors). The subject matter is also found in stained glass. The first figural stained glass window made in the United States is the "Adoration of the Magi" window located at Christ Church, Pelham, New York and designed in 1843 by the founder and first rector's son, William Jay Bolton.
Treatments by individual artists[edit]
Many hundreds of artists have treated the subject. A very partial list of the most celebrated follows.
With articles[edit]
- Adoration of the Magi, Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
- Adoration of the Magi of 1475 (Botticelli), Botticelli: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
- The Adoration of the Kings (Bruegel), National Gallery, London
- The Star of Bethlehem, Edward Burne-Jones, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
- Adoration of the Magi (Andrea della Robbia), Victoria and Albert Museum
- Adoration of the Magi (Dürer), Uffizi, Florence
- The Adoration of the Kings (Gossaert), National Gallery, London
- Adoration of the Magi (Leonardo), Uffizi, Florence
- Adoration of the Magi (Lorenzo Monaco), Uffizi
- Adoration of the Magi (Gentile da Fabriano), Uffizi, Florence
- Adoration of the Magi (Mantegna), Uffizi
- Madonna and Child (Masaccio), Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
- Adoration of the Magi (Perugino), Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia
- Adoration of the Magi (Rubens, Lyon), Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon
- Adoration of the Magi (Rubens, Cambridge), King's College Chapel, Cambridge
- Adoration of the Magi (Rubens, Antwerp), Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp
- Adoration of the Magi (Velázquez), Museo del Prado, Madrid
- Adoration of the Magi (Veronese), National Gallery, London
- Adoration of the Magi (tapestry) by Morris and Co with Edward Burne-Jones
Others[edit]
- Pieter Aertsen: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
- Bosch: Museo del Prado, Madrid
- Pieter Brueghel the Younger: National Gallery, Prague
- Fra Angelico: Museo S. Marco, Florence
- Ghirlandaio: Ospedale degli Innocenti, Florence
- Benozzo Gozzoli: Convent of S. Marco, Florence
- Benozzo Gozzoli: Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence
- Filippo Lippi: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
- Lo Spagna: altarpiece, Museo S. Francesco, Trevi
- Mantegna: Getty Museum
- Juan Bautista Mayno: Museo del Prado, Madrid
- Master of the Prado Adoration of the Magi: Museo del Prado, Madrid
- Murillo: Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio
- El Greco: Museo Soumaya, Mexico City
- Perugino: fresco, church of the Madonna delle Lacrime, Trevi; fresco, Oratorio dei Bianchi, Città della Pieve; National Gallery of Umbrian Art, Perugia
- Nicola Pisano: Baptistry, Pisa
- Poussin: Gemäldegalerie, Dresden
- Tiepolo: Alte Pinakothek, Munich
- Tissot, James:Brooklyn Museum
- Rogier van der Weyden: St Columba Altarpiece, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
- Gottfried Helnwein: Denver Art Museum[2]
Gallery of art[edit]
-
Medieval mosaics of Santa Maria in Trastevere, Rome,
-
Saint-Thiébaut Church, Thann, around 1400
-
Adoration of the Magi; Painting by Giotto di Bondone (in 1320/25)
-
Hans Memling, 1470
-
Botticelli, 1475
-
Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1488
-
Giorgione, Adoration of the Magi, c. 1505
-
Jacopo da Ponte, 1563-1564
-
El Greco, 1568
-
Diego Velázquez, 1619
-
Rubens, c. 1617-18
-
Abraham Bloemaert, 1624
-
Pieter van Lint, 1630
-
Rubens, 1634
-
Rubens, 17th century
-
Rembrandt, 1632
-
Jean Fouquet (one of the magi is King Charles VII of France)
-
Adoration of the Magi Giotto
-
Morris & Co. tapestry, 1888–1894
-
Adoration of the Magi. Fragment from medieval fresco, Kremikovtsi Monastery
-
Stained glass window at St. Michael's Cathedral (Toronto)
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Schiller, Gertrud; Seligman, Janet (1971). Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I: Christ's incarnation, childhood, baptism, temptation, transfiguration, works and miracles, (English translation from German), pp. 100–114 and figs. 245–298. London: Lund Humphries. OCLC 59999963
- ^ Denver Art Museum, Radar, Selections from the Collection of Vicki and Kent Logan, Gwen F. Chanzit, 2006 [1]
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Adoration of the Magi. |
External links[edit]
Life of Jesus: The Nativity |
||
Star of Bethlehem |
Events |
Flight into Egypt |