Lot 1019 Dα

The painting is a rediscovery since it's sale in Berlin in 1929. It was then known as a replica of Willem Key's Adoration of the Magi (panel, 72 x 108 cm, present whereabouts unknown) and published as such in 1936 by M.J. Friedländer (Die altniederländische Malerei, vol. 13, no. 271). Today it is recognized as a masterly reinterpretation of the subject by Adriaen Thomasz Key, pupil and collaborator of Willem. The composition strikes the viewer by its close-up rendering. The Virgin and Child slightly off centre are surrounded by five powerfully modeled figures, the oldest magus wearing a rich gold dress kneeling in the foreground. Surprisingly the black magus present in the upper right corner of Willem Key's model has been replaced by a far landscape. Adriaen Thomasz has indeed introduced in his version some remarkable compositional changes. The exclusion of the black king is based rigorously on the text of the Gospels which do not mention him. Doing this the painter follows the recommendations of the theologian Johannes Molanus from 1570. Furthermore he introduces in the upper left corner the head of a young man with individualised facial features allowing Dr. Jonckheere to recognize in it a possible self-portrait, portraiture being the most talented genre of the painter.
The emphazis placed on the treatment of the physiognomies is consistent with the usual style and technique of Adriaen Key as revealed by comparaison with e.g. his signed Holy Family in Philadelphia (inv. 430). As a result this Adoration of the Magi appears to be a fine example of religious art made in Antwerp after the Iconoclasm.
We thank Hélène Mund for this catalogue entry.