Master of the View of St. Gudule
The Adoration of the Magi
1469-1479
Scroll
Master of the View of St. Gudule
The Adoration of the Magi
1469-1479
Physical Qualities
Oil and gilding on wood panel, 22 3/4 x 16 1/8 in. (57.8 x 41 cm.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Saidie A. May
Object Number
1951.398
Small as it is, the tiny landscape squeezed into the upper corner of Adoration of the Magi is important as a forerunner of true largescale landscape painting. The craggy mountain and Gothic cathedral provide a setting, however fictitious, for the long journey of the Three Magi who came out of the Orient to honor the Christ Child
with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
The Three Magi represent the three ages of man. Caspar, with his long white beard, embodies old age. Melchior, in red, has the full dark beard of a middle-aged man. Young Balthasar, behind him, is beardless. The rich robes of the Magi are splendid indeed compared to the simple cloak of Joseph, who eyes the visitors with some suspicion. The pristine pink marble column, strangely out of place in this old wooden stable, suggests that Christ’s birth introduced a new order to a tired world.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1951; The Baltimore Museum of Art on extended loan, 1933–1951; Saidie A. May, New York, NY by purchase, c. 1924–1925; Henri Daguerre, Paris.
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“The Madonna and Child Through the Centuries,” The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD) December 22, 1957, pp. 8–9.
Max J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. 4 (Leiden: A.W. Sijthoff, 1967-1976), supp. 124, ill. 109.
J. Dijkstra et al., De schilderijen van Museum Catharijneconvent (Zwolle: Waanders Uitgevers, 2002), p. 75.
Véronique Bücken et al, L'Heritage de Rogier van der Weyden: La peinture à Bruxelles, 1450-1520 (Tielt: Lannoo, 2013), p. 311.
Max J. Friedländer. Early Netherlandish Painting: Hugo van der Goes. Translated by Heinz Norden. Vol. 4. Leiden: A.W. Sijthoff, 1967.
Maryan Ainsworth and Keith Christiansen, eds., From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1998), pp. 71, 178–181.
Lorne Campbell, The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools (Great Britain: National Gallery Publications Ltd., 1998), pp. 346, 349–352.
Philippe Lorentz and Micheline Comblen-Sonkes, Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pays-Bas méridionaux et de la principauté de Liège au quinzième siècle, vol. 19 (Brussels: Centre International d' Études de la Peinture Médiévale des Bassins de L'Escaut et de la Meuse, 2001), pp. 243, 246, 249.
Pascale d’Olne et al, The Flemish Primitives, IV: Masters with Provisional Names (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006), pp. 362-389.
Maryan Ainsworth and Keith Christiansen, eds., From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1998), pp. 71, 178–181.
Lorne Campbell, The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools (Great Britain: National Gallery Publications Ltd., 1998), pp. 346, 349–352.
Philippe Lorentz and Micheline Comblen-Sonkes, Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pays-Bas méridionaux et de la principauté de Liège au quinzième siècle, vol. 19 (Brussels: Centre International d' Études de la Peinture Médiévale des Bassins de L'Escaut et de la Meuse, 2001), pp. 243, 246, 249.
Pascale d’Olne et al, The Flemish Primitives, IV: Masters with Provisional Names (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006), pp. 362-389.
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