Title
The Adoration of the Magi
painter
Berruguete, Pedro (Paredes de Nava, ca. 1445 - Madrid, ca. 1503)
Generic classification
PaintingObject
PaintingDate
1485-1489Century
Last quarter of the 15th c.Cultural context / style
Gothic and Renaissance elementsMaterial
PanelTechnique
Oil PaintingProvenance
Possible origin from Castile and Leon (Castilla y León, Possible origin from Castile and Leon, Spain)Current location
National Museum of San Carlos (Ciudad de México, Mexico)Object history
The provenance of this work is unknown, although it is most likely that it was from the Castilian area. Post (1934) and Silva Maroto (1998) maintain that the painting was in the collection of the antique dealer Juan Lafora Calatayud (Madrid). This businessman had a relationship with the antique dealer and art dealer Jacques Seligman, to whom he sold some pieces in the early twentieth century and perhaps this was one of them. Alberto José Pani, known for his role in Mexican politics, was also an avid art collector. Between 1919-1920 he formed his first collection thanks to a diplomatic visit he had to make to Paris, where he was able to visit auction houses and antique stores. Years later, between 1927 and 1929, he formed his second collection (Fernández, 1940; Ortega Ramírez, 2020). In 1933, when he traveled to London while he was Secretary of Finance and Public Credit, Pani acquired eight panels from Spain on behalf of the government, including one by Berruguete. A year later, in 1934, the San Carlos Museum in Mexico received a donation from the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, at which time the panel became part of the museum's collection (Guerrero Mondoño and Cortés Guzmán, 2004).
Description
The scene, drawn from the Gospel of Saint Matthew, depicts the Adoration of the Magi. Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar visit the newborn Christ Child, who is held in the arms of the Virgin. They bring rich gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The composition is reminiscent of the canvases Pedro Berruguete likely created for the Church of Santo Tomás, which are now housed in the Museo Nacional del Prado (Madrid).
Locations
ca. 1485 - Early XXth c.
Early XXth c. - ca. 1933
dealer/antiquarian
Juan Lafora Calatayud, Madrid (Spain) *
ca. 1933 - ca. 1934
private collection
Alberto José Pani, Ciudad de México (Mexico) *
ca. 1933 - ca. 1934
private collection
Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, Mexico, Mexico (Mexico) *
ca. 1934 - present
Bibliography
- FERNÁNDEZ, Justino (1940): "La Segunda Colección Pani De Pinturas", vol. 2, nº 5, Anales Del Instituto De Investigaciones Estéticas.
- GAYA NUÑO, Juan Antonio (1958): La pintura española fuera de España (historia y catálogo), Espasa-Calpe, Madrid.
- GUERRERO MONDOÑO, Rocío y CORTÉS GUZMÁN, Alejandra (2004): "La Adoración de los Magos del Museo Nacional de San Carlos de México", Pedro Berruguete y su entorno, Diputación de Palencia, Palencia, pp. 73-78.
- ORTEGA RAMÍREZ, Angélica (2020): La colección de Alberto J. Pani en la Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México.
- POST, Chandler Rathfon (1934): A History of Spanish Painting, vol. 5 (The Hispano-Flemish Style in Andalusia), Harvard University Press, Cambdrige (Massachusetts), pp. 117-118.
- SILVA MAROTO, Pilar (1998): Pedro Berruguete, Junta de Castilla y León, Salamanca.
Record manager
Isabel Escalera FernándezCitation:
Isabel Escalera Fernández, "The Adoration of the Magi" in Nostra et Mundi. Cultural Heritage from Castile and Leon around the world, Fundación Castilla y León, 2025. https://inventario.nostraetmundi.com/en/work/27
