The Adoration of the Kings

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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The Virgin sits in front of a dilapidated stable with the naked Christ Child on her knee. Three men offer golden gifts – this is the Adoration of the Kings, a biblical episode imagined as a contemporary event. It’s a chilly winter day: Mary’s dress has fur-lined sleeves and Joseph has a thick-belted robe. This is one of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s few religious paintings; the upright format and rich colouration suggest it might have been designed as an altarpiece. But its uneasy atmosphere is at odds with a devotional work. The kings are richly dressed but dishevelled, the soldiers menacing, the spectators bewildered or enraged. The crowding, the elongated proportions of the main figures and their nearness to the viewer add to the claustrophobic atmosphere.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

The Adoration of the Kings

Date

1564

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 111.1 x W 83.2 cm

Accession number

NG3556

Acquisition method

Bought with contributions from The Art Fund and Arthur Serena through The Art Fund, 1920

Work type

Painting

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The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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