Britannica AI Icon

Adoration of the Magi

religious motif

Learn about this topic in these articles:

Assorted References

  • major reference
    • Perugino: Adoration of the Magi
      In Magi

      The Adoration of the Magi—i.e., their homage to the infant Jesus—early became one of the most popular themes in Christian art, the first extant painting on the subject being the fresco in the Priscilla Catacomb of Rome dating from the 2nd century. In the Middle Ages…

      Read More
  • engraving by Lucas van Leyden
    • In Lucas van Leyden

      But engravings such as the Adoration of the Magi (c. 1512), cluttered with awkward figures and architectural backgrounds, indicate a decline in conceptual power that lasted until about 1519, when he engraved the Dance of the Magdalene. This work also has a large number of figures, but they are tranquil…

      Read More
  • tapestry
    • La Dame à la licorne
      In tapestry: 15th century

      …as in the tapestry of The Adoration of the Magi. These panels were called “altarpiece tapestries” because they were usually intended for churches or private chapels, where they either were used as an altar cloth or antependium or were hung behind the altar as an altarpiece or fabric retable. In…

      Read More

painting

    • Angelico
      • Fra Angelico: Madonna of Humility
        In Fra Angelico: San Domenico period

        …this group of paintings includes The Adoration of the Magi and The Martyrdom of St. Mark, which are lucid and compact in their narrative and have a strictly defined perspective, a technique that is even more effective in the small painting depicting the naming of John the Baptist.

        Read More
    • Antwerp Mannerists
      • Adoration of the Magi
        In Antwerp Mannerists

        …painted subjects such as the Adoration of the Magi and the Nativity, both of which are generally represented as night scenes, crowded with figures and illuminated with flickering, often irrational lighting. The Adoration scenes were especially popular with the Antwerp Mannerists, who took delight in the patterns of the elaborate…

        Read More
    • Bassano
      • The Annunciation to the Shepherds, oil on canvas by Jacopo Bassano, probably 1555/1560; in the Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 106.1 × 82.6 cm.
        In Jacopo Bassano

        Roch and Sebastian and The Adoration of the Magi, characterized by an unearthly pale light, colours, and nervous, attenuated figures in affectedly sophisticated poses.

        Read More
    • Domenico
      • Domenico Veneziano: Madonna and Child Enthroned with St. Francis, John the Baptist, St. Zenobius, and St. Lucy
        In Domenico Veneziano

        >Adoration of the Magi is thought to have been painted by Domenico about 1435–39. It combines gay color with careful realism and has an expansive and accurately drawn landscape background.

        Read More
    • Gentile
      • Adoration of the Magi
        In Gentile da Fabriano

        His surviving masterpiece, the Adoration of the Magi, was completed in 1423 for the Church of Santa Trinità, in Florence. Its graceful figures are clothed in velvets and rich brocades, and the Magi are attended by Oriental retainers, who look after such exotic animals as lions and camels. Its…

        Read More
      • St. Andrew, wall painting in the presbytery of Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome, 705–707.
        In Western painting: International Gothic

        …done in Tuscany, the “Adoration of the Magi” altar (1423; Uffizi, Florence). His faces and drapery tend to have a soft, rounded modeling, somewhat reminiscent of the northern “soft style.” The subject matter of his painting includes detailed studies of birds, animals, and flowers.

        Read More
    • Goes
      • In Hugo van der Goes

        A comparison between the large Adoration of the Magi and The Nativity reveals the direction in which van der Goes’s later works were to evolve. The Adoration is spatially rational, compositionally tranquil, and harmonious in colour. By contrast, the Nativity (also called Adoration of the Shepherds), a later work painted…

        Read More
    • Leonardo da Vinci
      • Leonardo da Vinci: Self-portrait
        In Leonardo da Vinci: Adoration of the Magi

        …containing many figures, the unfinished Adoration of the Magi (c. 1482). Intended for the monastery of San Donato a Scopeto, the piece was also one of his first substantial commissions from the city of Florence. Although Leonardo abandoned the work before departing for Milan in 1482, the painting nonetheless affords…

        Read More
    • Lochner
    • Masaccio
      • Masaccio: Holy Trinity
        In Masaccio: Early life and works

        panel depicting the The Adoration of the Magi is notable for its realistic figures, which include portraits, most likely those of the donor and his family. Like the The Virgin and Child, the panel of the The Adoration of the Magi is notable for its deep, vibrant hues…

        Read More
    • Memling
      • In Hans Memling

        …generally hinged together) of the Adoration of the Magi, one of his earliest works, and in the altarpiece of 1479 for Jan Floreins, the influence of Rogier’s last masterpiece, the Columba Altarpiece (1460–64), is especially noticeable. Some scholars believe that Memling himself may have had a hand in the production…

        Read More
    • Poussin
      • Nicolas Poussin: Adoration of the Golden Calf
        In Nicolas Poussin: Conversion to Classicism

        The Adoration of the Magi of 1633 serves as a manifesto of his artistic conversion and is unashamedly modeled after an earlier work on this theme by the greatest Classical master of the Renaissance, Raphael.

        Read More

    sculpture

      • Ordónez
        • Ordóñez, Bartolomé: marble reliefs
          In Bartolomé Ordóñez

          His The Adoration of the Magi, the principal panel of the Caraccioli Altarpiece, is a splendid example of his mastery of Renaissance style in its clear organization of figures, careful perspective, and distinct rhythm. This panel and his other masterpieces profoundly influenced the major Neapolitan sculptors of…

          Read More
      • whalebone