Adoration of the Magi (also Adoration of the Kings) - The Gospel of
St. Matthew (2:1-12) tells how certain Magi (the Wisemen) from the Orient
arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 'Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We
observed the rising of his star, and we have come to pay him homage.' (Mat.
2:2-3). King Herod and his court were greatly perturbed on hearing this;
he asked the magi to report to him after they found the Child, so he too
could go and worship him. Guided by the star, the magi discovered the Infant
in a house at Bethlehem, worshiped him and presented him with their gifts.
A dream warned the magi not to return to Herod’s court and they set off
instead for their own country by another route.
Apocryphal
gospels have enriched and embelished Matthew's story. In the 2nd-3rd centuries
A.D. the wisemen were also refered to as kings. In, approximately, the
9th they were given names: Caspar, or Jaspar, usually the oldest, Balthazar,
and Melchior, usually the youngest. Though Matthew did not reveal the number
of the magi, they are traditionally thought of as being three because of
the number of symbolic gifts they presented to Christ: gold, frankincense,
and myrrh. Later the three magi (or kings) came to personify the three
parts of the known world: Asia, Africa, and Europe.
See: Fra Angelico and Benozzo Gozzoli. Adoration
of the Magi.
Hans Baldung The Three
Kings Altarpiece.
Hieronymus Bosch Epiphany,
Epiphany.
Alessandro Botticelli Adoration
of the Magi, Adoration
of the Magi, Adoration
of the Magi.
Dieric Bouts the Elder The
Adoration of the Magi.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder The
Adoration of the Kings, Adoration
of the Magi in Winter Landscape.
Pieter Brueghel the Younger Adoration
of the Magi.
Domenico Veneziano. The
Adoration of the Magi.
Gerard David. The
Adoration of the Magi.
Albrecht Dürer Adoration
of the Magi.
Duccio di Buoninsegna. Maestà:
The
Adoration of the Magi.
Gentile da Fabriano. Adoration
of the Magi.
Domenico Ghirlandaio Adoration
of the Magi, The Adoration
of the Magi.
Fra Angelico. Annunciation
and Adoration of the Magi. Linaiuoli
Tabernacle: Adoration of the Magi.
Giorgione Adoration
of the Magi.
Giotto The Adoration
of the Magi, The Epiphany.
Hugo van der Goes Adoration
of the Magi.
Leonardo da Vinci Adoration
of the Magi.
Filippino Lippi The Adoration
of the Magi,
Fra Filippo Lippi. The Adoration
of the Magi.
Masaccio The Adoration
of the Magi.
Hans Memling Triptych:
The Nativity, The Adoration of the Magi, The Presentation in the Temple.
Pontormo. The Adoration
of the Magi.
Raphael Adoration of the
Magi.
Peter Paul Rubens Adoration
of the Magi.
Martin Schongauer. The
Adoration of the Magi.
Diego Velázquez. The
Adoration of the Magi.
Paolo Veronese. The
Adoration of the Kings.
Rogier van der Weyden Middelburg
Altarpiece. Three Magi, St. Columba
Altarpiece. Adoration of the Magi.