''The Adoration of the Magi'' (Dutch: ''Aanbidding der wijzen''), is a circa 1645

oil on panel A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not paint ...

painting of the Nativity by the Dutch artist

Salomon Koninck Salomon (de) Koninck (1609 – buried 8 August 1656) was a Dutch painter of genre scenes and portraits, and an engraver. Koninck was born in Amsterdam, the son of a goldsmith, originally from Antwerp, and was a nephew of Philips de Koninck. ...

in the collection of the

Mauritshuis The Mauritshuis (; en, Maurice House) is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings which consists of 854 objects, mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings. The collection contains works by Johannes Vermeer ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

.painting record
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

Painting

The Adoration of the Magi shows a nocturnal scene with Mary bending over the Child while the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh are presented by the three kings Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar with their entourages in procession. The robes of Melchior and Caspar are held by boys, continuing an Antwerp pictorial tradition started by

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

. Caspar is holding the famous Amsterdam guild cup, which both reveals the Amsterdam origins of the painting and also raises the question if the other metal objects presented were equally famous. According to the museum, the painting's provenance goes back only as far as the heirs of Joan de Vries of Amsterdam in 1708.painting record
on museum website Behind and above them, centrally placed in the composition, is the magi Balthazar, standing under a parasol with the star of Bethlehem shining above him. The painting was painted soon after the time when Koninck was a pupil of

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

. Many aspects of the fashions and poses in the composition are taken directly from earlier Rembrandt paintings, such as his 1634 version of the same subject, now in the Hermitage: File:Rembrandt The Adoration of the Magi.jpg, ''The Adoration of the Magi'', 1634, by Rembrandt

Provenance

This painting was once in the collection of

William V, Prince of Orange William V (Willem Batavus; 8 March 1748 – 9 April 1806) was a prince of Orange and the last stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. He went into exile to London in 1795. He was furthermore ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau until his death in ...

and was purchased by him in The Hague in 1762 as by another Rembrandt pupil,

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (19 August 1621 – 29 September 1674) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and a favourite student of Rembrandt. He was also an etcher, an amateur poet, a collector and an adviser on art. Biography Gerbrand was born in A ...

. It was claimed by the French in 1795 and displayed at the Louvre during the French occupation. It was returned to the museum in 1815.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adoration of the Magi 1640s paintings Paintings in the Mauritshuis Adoration of the Magi in art