Title

Adoration of the Magi from the Convent of Santa Clara, Medina de Pomar (Burgos)

Justus of Ghent (¿Gante?, ca. 1432 - ?, ca. 1480)

Generic classification

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Object history

In one of his studies Louis Demonts stated that this painting was in the hands of the antiquarian Jacques Seligmann and came from the chapel of the Dukes of Frías in Medina de Pomar in the province of Burgos. He even considered that the Spanish climate may have contributed to the good preservation of this work - the fragility of the technique used in its manufacture explains why not many examples of this type have survived to the present day. The same author considered that this work must be earlier than the ‘Communion of the Apostles’ in the museum in Urbino (Palazzo Ducale). He also suggested that the man in green with the red cap could be a portrait by Hugo van der Goes (Demonts, 1925). Post also alluded to the Spanish provenance of this work, indicating, in this respect, that the style of Justo de Gante and that of Hugo van der Goes were particularly appreciated in Spain (Post, 1933, part 1, p. 26). According to Folie, the fact that Juan Fernández de Velasco, sixth Duke of Frías and ambassador to England, travelled to Flanders around 1600 may explain the presence of this work in Medina de Pomar, as the Duke may have acquired the painting during that trip (Folie, 1960, pp. 113-116). 

It therefore came from the patronage of the Duke of Frías in the convent of Santa Clara in Medina de Pomar (Burgos), perhaps until the 1880s. It was subsequently in the hands of the antiques dealer Jacques Seligmann, whose business was based in Paris and New York. It was Seligmann who sold the work to the collector George Blumenthal, in whose collection it was to be found when the catalogue of the collection was drawn up in 1926. The Blumenthal mansion in Manhattan was a receptacle for numerous treasures from Spain –as was the case with the Vélez Blanco courtyard, which served as the central space of the residence–. The magnate was one of the patrons of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and was director of the institution from 1934 until his death in 1941, in whose collection this painting is preserved today. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the principal repository of the Blumenthal legacy. 

Description

This is a water temple painting on canvas, and not many of them have survived. The master worked both in Ghent and at the court of Urbino, which allowed him to bring together artistic trends from Northern and Southern Europe at a vibrant time for painting, as can be seen in this work. 

Locations

• ca. 1880

  convent

  Santa Clara Convent, Medina de Pomar, Medina de Pomar (Spain)

• 1922 - 1924

  dealer/antiquarian

  Jacques Seligmann, New York (United States) *

• 1924 - 1941

  private collection

  Georges Blumenthal and Florence Meyer Blumenthal, New York (United States) *

• 1941 - present

  museum

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (United States)