How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Buy a print or image licence
You can purchase this reproduction
If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
A great throng of retainers and animals accompany the Three Kings to pay homage to the infant Christ (Matthew 2: 2–12). Reclining among angels in the heavens, God the Father blesses all those below. The Virgin Mary holds the Christ Child, who blesses the eldest king prostrated before him and receives the gold he offers. The next king has taken off his crown and kneels in respect. The third, dark-skinned king takes from an attendant the large golden urn of myrrh he will present to Christ. Fragments of a ruined classical building – perhaps a city gate or triumphal arch – are scattered in the foreground. Ruined classical architecture is often included in Renaissance paintings of the Nativity to symbolise the end of the old pagan world and the dawn of the new Christian era.
Title
The Adoration of the Kings
Date
about 1524-5
Medium
Oil on wood
Measurements
H 144.2 x W 125.7 cm
Accession number
NG218
Acquisition method
Presented by Edmund Higginson, 1849
Work type
Painting
