The Adoration of the Magi

c. 1508/1519

Juan de Flandes

Artist, Hispano-Flemish, active 1496 - 1519

A pale, light-skinned woman holding a baby sits to our left in front of stone ruins as one man kneels and two men stand to our right in front of a landscape in this vertical painting. The woman wears a long, navy-blue coat trimmed in gold, and sits with her body angled to our right. Her light brown hair is parted in the middle and covered by the hood of her robe. She lowers her eyes toward a pale, naked, baby boy with curly blond hair, who leans back against her on a white cloth on her lap. She supports the baby’s side with her right hand and her left caresses his head. A man wearing a golden turban-like cap and a crimson-red, voluminous robe lined with white kneels on the dirt ground in front of the baby, and looks down and off to the side with dark eyes. The man has pale skin, a hooked nose, and jowls. A sword with a gold hilt hangs at his side and a round, white shield is slung over his shoulder. He holds a golden box open toward the baby. Two more men stand behind him. Cut off by the edge of the panel, the man on our right has brown skin, a flat nose, full, projecting lips, and he faces our left in profile. He wears a golden crown on short brown hair, and a large, teardrop-shaped pearl hangs from the ear we can see. His turquoise-blue robe is shaded with petal-pink in the shadows in the folds, and it partially covers a gold chain. He holds a gold-encrusted, jeweled orb in his hands. Beyond him, to our left, a man with pale, peach-colored skin stands facing and looking at us. He has a brown beard and his curly hair is covered by a crown set into a crimson-red, jeweled hat. He wears a gold, brocade robe over a navy-blue garment, and a large jewel pendant hangs from a thick gold chain around his neck. He points with a white gloved hand toward the woman and baby and, in his other, holds a gold vessel with a stem and foot like a wine glass. Behind the woman and to our left, a horned ox looks out toward us from under an arch in the stone ruins. Trees grow in the background and above, a golden star is encircled with bands of gold and blue, with rays extending toward the scene below. Nearby, a white and gray bird perches on the top of the ruins. In the background behind the men, two pairs of men on horseback and one man attending to one of the horses gather in a grassy landscape below a pale blue sky. The pair to our left have pale skin and the pair to our right have brown skin.

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Although the original reference to the wise men, or magi, in the Gospel of Matthew is minimal, churchmen eventually elevated them to the status of kings, gave them names -- Balthasar, Caspar, and Melchior -- and invested their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh with specific meanings. The royal status and foreign origins of the three travelers inspired medieval and Renaissance artists, who gave free reign to their imaginations in treating the colorful subject.

Juan de Flandes (John of Flanders) took the opportunity to paint a fanciful scene replete with opulent costumes, gleaming gold and jewels, and varied racial types. All wear exotic headgear and carry ornate vessels containing their gifts. Visible in the distance, on horseback, are several smaller figures, members of the kings' retinue.

Although there are numerous references to this presumably northern painter in the records of his Spanish patrons, nothing is known of his early years. His reputation as an artist derives entirely from the works he produced in Spain, where he served as court painter to Queen Isabella until her death in 1504. Later, he painted this panel and its three companion pieces, also in the National Gallery; together, they once formed part of a large altarpiece in the Church of San Lázaro in Palencia.
 

On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G19

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    painted surface: 124.7 x 79 cm (49 1/8 x 31 1/8 in.)
    overall (panel): 126 x 82 cm (49 5/8 x 32 5/16 in.)
    framed: 143.2 x 99.7 x 10.7 cm (56 3/8 x 39 1/4 x 4 3/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1961.9.24

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Altarpiece of the "capilla mayor (main chapel)," church of San Lázaro, Palencia, commissioned c. 1508, until at least 1761.[1] Acquired c. 1952 by (Frederick Mont, New York);[2] purchased 11 February 1953 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1961 to NGA.
[1] Don Sancho de Castilla made the commission. A 1761 document confirming its presence in the church was discovered by Ignace Vandevivere, Primitifs flamands. Corpus. La cathédrale de Palencia et l'église paroissiale de Cervera de Pisuerga, Brussels, 1967: 45.
[2] In 1952 all four panels now in the Gallery (1961.9.22-.25) were with Frederick Mont in New York; see letter of 28 October 1952 from Chandler R. Post to Mont in NGA curatorial files. Mont refers to having bought the pictures in Spain in a letter dated 16 April 1953 to Wilhelm Valentiner (Valentiner Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington: microfilm reel no. 2143; copies in NGA curatorial files).
[3] See The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2047.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2020

  • Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, 2019-2021, unnumbered catalogue, not reproduced (shown only in Dallas).

Bibliography

1887

  • Justi, Carl. "Juan de Flandes, ein niederländischer Hofmaler Isabella der Katholischen." Jahrbuch der königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen (Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen) 8 (1887): 167.

1907

  • Winkler, [Friedrich]. "Juan de Flandes." In Thieme-Becker. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950:19(1926):279.

1908

  • Justi, Carl. Miscellaneen aus drei Jahrhunderten spanischen Kunstlebens. 2 vols. Berlin, 1908: 1:324.

1909

  • Mayer, August L. "Studien zur Quattrocento-malerei in Nordwestkastilien." Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 32 (1909): 519.

1913

  • Mayer, August L. Geschichte der spanischen Malerei. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1913: 1:149.

1917

  • Moreno Villa, José. "Un pintor de la reina católica." Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Excursiones 25 (1917): 281.

1932

  • H[ulin] de L[oo], [Georges]. Trésor de l'art flamand du moyen âge au XVIIIe siècle. Mémorial de l'exposition d'art flamand ancien à Anvers. 1930. 2 vols. Paris, 1932: 1:51.

1933

  • Post, Chandler Rathfon. A History of Spanish Painting. 14 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1933: 4, pt. 1:45, 50.

1950

  • Revilla Vielva, Ramón. "Retablo Mayor de la Santa Iglesia Catedral de Palencia." Publicaciones de la Institución "Tello Téllez de Meneses" no. 5 (1950): 98.

1952

  • Brans, Jan V. L. Isabel la Católica y el arte Hispano-Flamenco. Madrid, 1952: 96-98, pl. 43.

  • Museo del Prado. Catálogo. Madrid (and later editions), 1952: 204.

1953

  • Brans, Jan V. L. "Juan de Flandes, pintor de la Reina y de Castilla." Clavileño 4, no. 21 (1953): 29, 32.

1954

  • Sánchez Cantón, Francisco Javier. "Las adquisiciones del Museo del Prado en los años 1952 y 1953." Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueologia 27 (1954): 5.

1955

  • Gudiol Ricart, José. Pintura Gótica. In Ars Hispaniae. 22 vols. Madrid, 1955: 9:259-260.

1956

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 110, no. 41, repro. 112.

1957

  • Gudiol, José. "Oeuvres inédites de Jean de Flandres." Miscellanea Prof. Dr. D. Roggen. Antwerp, 1957: 116, 118.

1958

  • Post, Chandler Rathfon. A History of Spanish Painting. 14 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1958: 12, part 2:615, 618, 620, 622-625, figs. 262, 263.

  • Gaya Nuño, Juan Anotonio. La pintura española fuera de España; historia y catàlogo. Madrid, 1958: 148, nos. 761, 762.

1959

  • Brans, Jan V. L. Vlaamse schilders in dienst der Koningen van Spanje. Louvain, 1959: 55.

  • Eisler, Colin. "Juan de Flandes's Saint Michael and Saint Francis." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin n.s. 18 (1959): 130.

  • Sánchez Cantón, Francisco Javier. The Prado. New York, 1959: 138.

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 266, repro.

1962

  • Bermejo, Elisa. Juan de Flandes. Madrid, 1962: 28-31, 44, pls. 36-39.

  • Puyvelde, Leo van. La peinture flamande au siècle de Bosch et Breughel. Paris, 1962: 353.

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 62, color repro.

1963

  • Sammlung Heinz Kisters. Altdeutsche und alniederländische Gemälde. Exh. cat. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, 1963: 14-15, under no. 76.

1964

  • Anzelewsky, Fedja. "Der Meister der Lübecker Bibel von 1494." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 27 (1964): 57.

1965

  • Held, Julius S. "The Bearing of the Cross Hitherto Attributed to Juan de Flandes." The Art Quarterly 38 (1965): 31.

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 71.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:96-97, color repro.

1967

  • Vandevivere, Ignace. Primitifs flamands. Corpus. La cathédrale de Palencia et l'église paroissiale de Cervera de Pisuerga. Brussels, 1967: 44-47.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 62, repro.

1969

  • Osten, Gert von der, and Horst Vey. Painting and Sculpture in Germany and the Netherlands 1500 to 1600. Harmondsworth, 1969: 142.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 182, 184, repro. 183, 185.

1976

  • Lurie, Ann Tzeutschler. "Birth and Naming of St. John the Baptist Attributed to Juan de Flandes: A Newly Discovered Panel from a Hypothetical Altarpiece." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 63 (1976): 127, fig. 21.

1977

  • Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 187-188, fig. 189.

1978

  • Rogers, Millard F., Jr. Spainish Paintings in the Cincinnati Art Museum. Cincinnati, 1978: 12.

1979

  • De Coo, Josef, and Nicole Reynaud. "Origen del retablo de San Juan Bautista atribuido a Juan de Flandes." Archivo Español de Arte y Arqueologia 52 (1979): 140-141, figs. 7, 9.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. Washington, 1984: 138, no. 138, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 212, repro.

1986

  • Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1986: 125-133, repro. 128.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 77, repro.

1997

  • Quantum: The Magazine of Math and Science, Arlington, VA, 1997, cover, repro.

2001

  • Wilson, Carolyn C. St. Joseph in Italian Renaissance Society and Art: New Directions and Interpretations. Philadelphia, 2001: 206 n. 76.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 59, no. 44, color repro.

2011

  • Weniger, Matthias. Sittow, Morros, Juan de Flandes: Drei Maler aus dem Norden am Hof Isabellas der Katholischen. Kiel, 2011: 250-254, no. 12.3, fig. 178.

Wikidata ID

Q20175066

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