1519
oil
panel
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Adoration of the Magi is a 1519 oil by Jan van Scorel, a Northern Renaissance work, depicting Biblical Magi, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
You see three richly dressed kings kneeling before baby Jesus, while Mary and Joseph watch from a crumbling stone archway. Behind them, a winding road cuts through hills dotted with tiny travelers and castles. This painting mixes two styles. The faces and fabrics feel sharp and detailed, like earlier Dutch art. But the broken Roman columns and fancy carvings look Italian—van Scorel may have seen them on his travels. It’s like he’s testing what he’s learned so far. To see how other artists blended styles, look up *glazing*.
One of Jan van Scorel’s earliest known works, this image of three kings from distant lands paying tribute to the newborn Jesus incorporates elements of northern and southern European visual traditions. The refined landscape, intricate costumes, and individualized faces of the figures attest to lessons the artist likely learned from his Netherlandish predecessors. The elaborate architectural carvings, on the other hand, recall ancient Roman wall decoration. Van Scorel likely made this work while traveling to study in Italy: the panel on which it is painted is made of fir, a wood rarely used in…
Probably a member of the Khuen von Belasy family [based on the coats of arms formerly on the picture]. Von Ferstel collection, Vienna, until 1920 [according to Friedländer 1923, p. 606]. Camillo Castiglioni, Vienna, from 1920; sold, Frederick Muller, Amsterdam, November 17–20, 1925, no. 47. Dr. Tietje, Amsterdam, by 1929 [lent by him to 1929 exhibition]. Paul Cassirer and Co., Amsterdam; sold to the Art Institute, 1935.
Düsseldorf, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Alte Malerei aus Privatbesitz, 1929, cat. 18. Art Institute of Chicago, The Christmas Story in Art, 1938–39, no cat. Art Institute of Chicago, Glad Tidings of Great Joy, 1994–95, no cat. Art Institute of Chicago, On the Road to Italy: Early Paintings by Dutch Renaissance Master Jan van Scorel, 1998, no cat.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jan van Scorel was a Dutch painter, who played a leading role in introducing aspects of Italian Renaissance painting into Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting.
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