Title

The Adoration of the Magi

painter

Maestro de los Reyes Católicos [attributed to] (Active in Castile in the late 15th century)

Generic classification

Object

Date

Century

Cultural context / style

Dimensions

Material

Technique

Iconography / Theme

Provenance

Current location

Inventory Number in Current Collection

Object history

This panel is part of a set of seven or eight panels depicting episodes from the life of Christ, from the Annunciation to the Wedding at Cana. In view of the dimensions of the preserved panels and their iconographic concentration on the initial moments of Christ's life (which suggests that there are no panels of his public life, passion and resurrection), the set, unless it was limited to the Gozos de la Virgen, must have belonged to a large altarpiece, comparable to other large late Gothic altarpieces in Castile, such as those in the cathedrals of Zamora or Ciudad Rodrigo.

According to the tradition of the international art market, the set comes from a monastery in the city of Valladolid. In general, the news of the art market are very unreliable and, of course, we have no certain news about the presence of these panels in any monastery in Valladolid (which, moreover, could only be a first class monastery, capable of housing an altarpiece of this size and quality and with connections to the royal family). In spite of this, Post considered this news to be plausible because of the relationships he noted between these paintings and other works from Valladolid and the nearby schools of Palencia and Burgos, and because of the aforementioned connections with the royal family, The heraldic emblems that seem to allude to the alliance between the Castile of the Catholic Monarchs and the house of Habsburg of the king of Romans and future emperor Maximilian I, which was sealed through weddings in 1496 (Infanta Juana with Philip the Fair, Duke of Burgundy) and 1497 (Prince of Asturias John with Margaret of Austria): Hence, this altarpiece is often referred to as the "altarpiece of the Catholic Monarchs", although in reality its provenance and, in relation to this, its authorship, is unknown.

Although Post clearly speaks of eight panels, we only have certain proof of seven: the fact that one of them, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, has been erroneously cited and sometimes reproduced as the Circumcision may have caused the confusion. Although today they are spread across five American museums, we can assume a common material history for them up to the 1930s. Based on their supposed origin in Valladolid, in the early 20th century at least the Wedding at Cana was owned by the Count of Las Almenas, José María de Palacio y Abárzuza, as it is seen in a photograph of his home taken by Arthur Byne and published in Spanish Interiors and Furniture. The records of its current owners indicate the same location for Christ among the Doctors (National Gallery of Art, Washington) and, with reservations, for the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA), but the truth is that the photograph only shows the Wedding at Cana.

The next milestone in their material history places the panels on the London art market, for there Mayer places the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and the Wedding at Cana in his captions. The Denver Art Museum records show that the Adoration of the Magi owned by him was in the hands of Lionel Harris's Spanish Art Gallery, while the National Gallery of Art records that Christ among the Doctors and the Wedding at Cana were purchased by Frank Partridge and Sons on March 28, 1919.

The next milestone in their material history, recorded by Post in his A History of Spanish Painting, places the panels in the art market and collecting in the United States. It records that on May 10, 1925 the New York firm French & Co. acquired the Adoration of the Magi, which in turn sold to John North Willys on March 17, 1930. It is quite possible that the other three panels that belonged to John North Willys ' Palm Beach collection (namely, Annunciation, Visitation and Birth of Christ) followed the same route. The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, sold in 1933 to the Fogg Museum, also passed through the hands of French & Co. The belonging to French & Co. is not recorded, however, in the case of Christ among the Doctors and the Wedding at Cana, cited by Post in 1933 as belonging to the collection of Dr. Preston Pope Satterwhite of New York. However, the fact that their subsequent sale was apparently mediated by French & Co. (as was the case with the Willys collection panels) suggests that they may have passed through their hands.

The next and last milestone in the material history of the boards is their passage to public collections in the United States. We have already seen how French & Co. sold the Presentation of Christ in the Temple directly to the Fogg Museum in 1933. As for the two Satterwhite panels(Christ among the Doctors and the Wedding at Cana), they were sold to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1941 (during the lifetime of their owner), apparently with the mediation of French & Co. With regard to the four Willys panels(Annunciation, Visitation, Birth of Christ and Adoration of the Magi), their owner died in 1935, they were not included in the sale of his collection promoted by his widow at the Parke-Bernet Galleriesin New York on October 25, 1945, but were sold to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation on October 23, 1945. Kress Foundation on October 23, 1951, with the mediation of French & Co. Being the owner of six of the seven panels, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation donated them to different institutions. Kress Foundation donated them to various American museum institutions: in 1952 the two Satterwhite panels were donated to the National Gallery of Art in Washington and in 1961 the four Willys panels were donated two to the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco(Annunciation and Birth of Christ), which exhibits them at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, one to the University of Arizona Museum of Art(Visitation) and one to the Denver Art Museum (Adoration of the Magi).

Description

The painting exhibits typical features of Flemish painting, such as the meticulous detail in the figures, the costumes, and the treatment of the landscape. In the foreground, two of the Magi are depicted offering their gifts to the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus. In the background, a third Magus holds a glass-covered cup to offer it to the newborn Child. Numerous attendants can be seen in the distance as part of the procession. The craftsmanship of the ornate objects they carry, as well as the jewellery they wear, is remarkably detailed.

According to José Gudiol, only the main figures in this panel are the work of the Master of the Catholic Monarchs (whom he identifies as Diego de la Cruz, a suggestion that has now been superseded), while the rest are the work of a collaborator for whom he suggests a possible French origin.

Locations

• XV^th c.

  province

  Possible origin in the province of Valladolid, Valladolid (Spain)

• ca. 1920 - 1925

  dealer/antiquarian

  The Spanish Art Gallery, London, London (United Kingdom) *

• 1925 - 1930

  dealer/antiquarian

  French & Company, New York (United States) *

• 1930 - Mid XX^th c.

  private collection

  John North Willys, New York (United States) *

• Mid XX^th c.

  dealer/antiquarian

  French & Company, New York (United States) *

• 1951 - 1961

  private collection

  Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York (United States) *

• 1961 - present

  museum

  Denver Art Museum, Denver (United States)