Lot 1009 Dα

This finely executed and well preserved panel is typical of the Antwerp Mannerist style around 1520. The Adoration of the Magi was indeed one of its favorite subjects allowing the display of exotic figures lavishly dressed and holding somptuous silverware pieces in an elaborate architectural setting. This composition presented in a triptych format as well as on isolated panels was most suitable for chuch altars, abbey´s chapels or simple domestic use. Many painters like the Pseudo-Bles, the Master of 1518, Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Jan de Beer and the Master of the Von Groote Adoration with their workshops developped between 1505 and 1530 a mass production specially to Spain, Portugal, North Germany, Poland and Scandinavia.
The present painting is stylistically and typologically similar to Pieter Coecke's Adoration of the Magi in Teruel (cf. G. Marlier: La Renaissance flamande. Pierre Coeck d'Aelst, Brussels 1966, p. 140, ill. 66). In both compositions the kings are identically displayed, Caspar kneeling in the centre before the Virgin and Child at the right, while Melchior doffs his hat and proffers his gift of gold, Balthazar standing next to him. It is therefore probable that a pattern was available in the workshop allowing the diffusion of a popular composition on the art market. However as the background with the architecture and landscape view is different it is possible that only a model of the figures existed originally.