Adoration of the Magi (Rubens)

Peter Paul Rubens painted the Adoration of the Magi (Matthew 2:1ff) more often than any other episode from the life of Christ.[1] The subject offered the Counter-Reformation artist the chance to depict the richest worldly panoply, rich textiles, exotic turbans and other incidents, with a range of human types caught up in a dramatic action that expressed the humbling of the world before the Church, embodied in Madonna and child. The most notable include:

References

  1. Hans Devisscher, Peter Paul Rubens: Aanbidding der Koningen (1992) noted ten versions of the theme and Michael Jaffé, Rubens: Catalogo completo (Milan, 1989) fifteen.