Adoration of the Kings (Gossaert)

The Adoration of the Kings
The Adoration of the Kings
Artist	Jan Gossaert
Year	1510–1515
Medium	Oil on oak
Dimensions	177.2 cm × 161.8 cm (69.8 in × 63.7 in)
Location	National Gallery, London

The Adoration of the Kings is a large oil-on-oak painting by Jan Gossaert (born Jean Gossart, also known as Jan Mabuse), dated to 1510–15, depicting the Adoration of the Magi. Although Gossaert's name is signed on the border of Balthazar's richly embroidered headdress, and on a collar worn by Balthazar's turbaned attendant, the painting was occasionally attributed to Albrecht Dürer in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 2010, Ainsworth suggested that the work was a collaboration between Gossaert and Gerard David.

Painting

In the centre of the painting, the

communion wafer. Six shepherds, an ass and a cow watch from behind, with a grey-bearded Joseph

– depicted in a bright red robe, contrasting with Mary's traditional garb of deep blue – standing behind a column to the left. More shepherds and their flock are barely visible in the distance.

To the right of Caspar stands Melchior holding aloft his gift, accompanied by four attendants, with more attendants approaching from the distance on horseback. Balthazar stands to the left with his gift and three attendants. Balthazar's richly decorated crown is inscribed with his name at its peak and Gossaert's name towards the bottom; Gossaert's name also appears on a collar worn by Balthazar's turbaned black attendant. Further left, two more attendants in exotic dress watch from a window.

Nine angels (perhaps representing the

Gloria in excelcis deo". A bird – symbolising the Holy Spirit – hovers above, while the Star of Bethlehem

shines brightly at the top of the painting. Several babies appear as decorative details, in the architectural frieze and the capitals, and on the golden vessel for Balthazar's gift. A tenth angel – possibly a self-portrait of Gossaert – is barely visible, in a doorway behind the ox.

Technical details and composition

The work was painted on a wooden panel consisting of six oak boards, laid vertically, measuring 177.2 centimetres (69.8 in) high by 161.8 centimetres (63.7 in) wide. The paint was applied to a ground of chalk fixed with animal glue, with a thin

lead-tin-yellow. There is much underdrawing

, visible in some areas due to the paint having become more transparent. A number of details were added at a late stage, over areas previously painted, including the two figures at the window to the left; the ox and the ass; the two shepherds behind the ass and the shepherds in the distance; Joseph's stick; Caspar's sceptre and the lid of Caspar's goblet.

Gossaert's composition draws from several sources. It takes its main inspiration from the

Staatliche Museen, Berlin), which has a similar grouping of richly dressed Mary and Magi among ruined architecture, with their attendants and bystanders, and glimpses of the landscape behind and angels above. The two dogs in the foreground, on a floor with many broken tiles, are copied from other engravings: one taken from the lower right corner of Dürer's engraving of Saint Eustace and the second is a reflection of the dog in an engraving of the "Adoration of the Kings" by Martin Schongauer

. Other elements are drawn from other prints by Schongauer and Dürer.

The
Monforte altarpiece by Hugo van der Goes

Albrecht Dürer's engraving of Saint Eustace
Adoration of the Kings by Martin Schongauer

History

The origins of the painting are unclear. It may have been commissioned by

Benedictine Abbey of St Adrian in Geraardsbergen, in East Flanders, south of Ghent and west of Brussels, where it first enters the historical record in 1600. It was bought by the rulers of the Habsburg Netherlands, Albert and Isabella, in 1601, who had seen it at the abbey the previous year. They paid £2,100 to the abbot, and moved the painting to become the altar of the chapel of their palace in Brussels. The palace was destroyed by a fire in February 1731, but the chapel and its contents survived. The chapel was demolished in the 1770s, but the painting had already been removed by the Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, Charles of Lorraine. It was sold after Charles' death in 1781 to Emmanuel-Marie de Cock, Pensionary of Brussels and Greffier-Pensionary of the States of Brabant

.

A painting matching its description came to London in 1787 and was sold at an auction held in London by John Greenwood the following year. It came into the possession of art dealer Michael Bryan by 1795, and was sold to Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle, who displayed it at Castle Howard. It was restored in 1884 by William Morrill, and then moved to Naworth Castle.

The Art Fund, Edward Tennant, 1st Baron Glenconner, Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh, Alfred de Rothschild, and George Curzon, Earl (later Marquess) Curzon of Kedleston. The gallery published a monograph by Maurice W. Brockwell

to commemorate the acquisition – the first such publication by the gallery.

Copies are held by the

National Gallery in Prague, and the Tula Art Museum

.

References

The Adoration of the Kings, National Gallery
- The Adoration of the Kings, National Gallery, key facts
- The Adoration of the Kings Archived 2021-02-27 at the Wayback Machine, National Gallery, introduction
Jean Gossart, The Adoration of the Kings, Lorne Campbell, from The Sixteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings with French Paintings before 1600, London 2011; published online 2011 Archived 2021-02-27 at the Wayback Machine