COLLECTION NAME:
Walter B. Denny World Art & Architecture Images
Record
ID_Number:
WBD_09609
Creator name:
unknown
Title:
The Adoration of the Magi
Date:
ca. 1340–1343
Date type:
creation
Repository name:
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Repository name variant:
Met, the
Repository location:
New York, New York
Repository_inventory_ number:
1975.1.9
Style_Period:
Medieval (European)
Style_Period name variant:
Middle Ages
Style_Period:
14th century
Style_Period name variant:
fourteenth century
Subject:
Magi
Subject:
angels (spirits)
Subject:
Virgin Mary
Subject:
Christ Child
Subject:
Africans
Subject:
halos (glories)
Subject:
rocks (landforms)
Subject:
palaces
Culture:
Italian
Category:
Paintings
Work_type:
tempera paintings
Work_type:
altarpieces
Material_Technique:
tempera on wood, gold ground
Measurement:
66.4 x 46.7 cm
Copy_Source:
digital image
Image_Source:
Walter Denny
Note:
According to the MMA site, the three figures "wearing pastel robes and turbans, are identified as an early depiction of Africans at the scene of the Adoration. The trio may represent the Ethiopian ambassadors who journeyed to Rome and Avignon in 1306, and their mythical ruler Prester John, considered to be a descendent of the magi. According to pictorial tradition, their smaller scale indicates they occupy the earthly realm. Africans often appear in later Adoration images as one of the magi, symbolizing the spread of Christianity, or as enslaved servants, reflecting their cultural "otherness" and conditions of oppression in Europe."
Rights Reproduction & Access:
Duplication rights - Walter Denny
Filename:
WBD_09609.JPG
