On view
Adoration of the Magi,
ca. 1514
The visit of three kings, or magi, bearing gifts for the newborn Christ Child was a popular subject in sixteenth-century Europe, particularly in the Flemish city of Antwerp, a bustling hub of global trade. It afforded painters such as David the opportunity to depict wealthy travelers from distant lands and delight in the details of their luxurious gifts and apparel.
While the Bible does not specify the kings’ ethnicities, Europeans came to associate them with the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. In the late 1400s, with the rise of the Portuguese slave trade on the western coast of Africa, European artists began depicting King Balthazar as Black. The individualized features of the king and his attendant in this painting suggest they may be portraits made from life, reflecting Antwerp’s racial diversity. However, the men may have been enslaved by the painting’s patron, perhaps a Portuguese merchant, who is depicted as the eldest magus.
More Context
Handbook Entry
Born in the Northern Netherlands and active in Bruges, Gerard David built a successful career on devotional pictures, working primarily for private clients. The Adoration of the Magi was a favored subject. Here, the eldest king, kneeling before Christ and the Virgin Mary, is surely a portrait of the patron. He represents Europe. The second king, kneeling behind him, may also be a portrait, and may be a Jew, since he is bearded and Europeans were generally clean-shaven in this period. He represents Asia. Behind him is an African king, accompanied by an attendant. While both are dark skinned, the king may be an Ethiopian, representing one of the oldest Christian nations, while his attendant may be from sub-Saharan Africa, symbolizing the newest converts on that continent. In the background, Saint Joseph stands behind Mary, holding the first king’s gift. The events transpire before a ruined building, usually a sign of the Temple of the Old Dispensation, which will be supplanted by the church. Within its interior, a mysterious figure dressed in yellow and looking away from Christ may represent the Jews who did not convert to the new religion. It has recently been suggested that this heavily allegorical painting, in which the old king and the two Africans are clearly portraits from life, may have been commissioned by a Portuguese merchant who came to Antwerp with his African servants; otherwise, it is difficult to imagine how the Africans would have found themselves in the Netherlands, much less would have sat for their portraits. The painting serves as an indication of the research that remains to be carried out on the travels of Africans in Europe during the Age of Discovery.
More About This Object
Information
ca. 1514
Unknown party in Spain; [1]
M. & R. Stora, Paris (?); [2]
Purchased in 1932 from Stora by The Princeton University Art Museum.
NOTES:
[1] See accession card, which states that the painting was obtained by Stora from Spain. This makes the provenance information for the painting as presented in the Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe exhibition catalogue (p. 119, as: Stora, Spain) misleading, as the dealers did not have a gallery in Spain, but rather purchased the painting there.
[2] Stora had two gallery locations. M. & R. Stora was the main location in Paris at 32-bis, boulevard Hausmann, directed by brothers Maurice Stora (1879-1950) and Raphaël Stora (ca. 1888-1963). The branch gallery in New York City was named Stora Art Galleries, Inc., later changed to R. Stora & Company. The branch was first established at 670 Fifth Avenue, and moved first to 471 Park Avenue and then 1010 Fifth Avenue in New York.
- Sixten Ringbom, Icon to narrative: the rise of the dramatic close-up in fifteenth-century devotional painting, (Doornspijk, The Netherlands: Davaco, 1984)., fig. 57, p. 104
- Robert A. Koch, "A reflection in Princeton of a Lost 'Epiphany' by Hugo van der Goes", in William W. Clark, ed., Tribute to Lotte Brand Philip: art historian and detective, (New York: Abaris Books, 1985)., p. 82-87
- Aileen June Wang, "An Adoration of the Magi after Hugo van der Goes," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 59, no. 1/2 (2000): p. 38–45., pp. 38–40, figs. 1–4; pp. 42–43, figs. 7–9
- Reflections of the passion: selected works from the Princeton University Art Museum: March 9-June 9, 2002, (New York: Princeton University Art Museum, 2002)., cat. no. 6
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David Bindman and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., eds., The Image of the Black in Western Art, vol. 2 part 2 (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010).
, vol. 2, part 2: fig. 176; p. 200-1 (illus.), 357 - Joaneath A. Spicer, Natalie Zemon Davis, K.J.P. Lowe and Ben Vinson III, Revealing the African presence in Renaissance Europe (Baltimore: Walters Art Museum, 2012)., p. 128, fig. 44 p. 129 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 411
