The ''Adoration of the Magi'' or ''The Epiphany'' is a

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided ...

oil painting on wood panel by the

Netherlandish The Low Countries comprise the coastal Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta region in Western Europe, whose definition usually includes the modern countries of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Both Belgium and the Netherlands derived their ...

artist

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/ Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on o ...

, executed around 1485–1500. It is now in the Museo del Prado in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, Spain.

History

In about 1494, Peeter Scheyfve (-1507) and Agnes de Gramme (?-about 1497) commissioned this altarpiece. They were wealthy burghers in Antwerp. The painting was in the

El Escorial El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( es, Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial en Madrid), or Monasterio del Escorial (), is a historical residence of the King of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, u ...

monastery, and was mentioned in 1605 as an "Epiphany without any extravaganza" by Fra Jose de Siguenza, and its being unlike Bosch's other work there. It has been at the Prado since 1839. The latest dendrochronological investigation (2016) has determined that the panels were produced after 1472 and most probably after 1474.

Description

Shutters

When closed, the triptych shutters showed externally a

grisaille Grisaille ( or ; french: grisaille, lit=greyed , from ''gris'' 'grey') is a painting executed entirely in shades of grey or of another neutral greyish colour. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many g ...

painting, depicting the ''

Mass of Saint Gregory The Mass of Saint Gregory is a subject in Roman Catholic art which first appears in the late Middle Ages and was still found in the Counter-Reformation. Pope Gregory I (c. 540–604) is shown saying Mass just as a vision of Christ as the ''Man of ...

'' in a single scene: it features

Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...

kneeling at an altar in front of Christ. The latter is surrounded by an arch with flying angels. The two characters in color are a later addition, and are the painting's donors. The frame contains scenes of the Life of Jesus: from the lower left, the '' Prayer in the Garden'', ''The Arrest'', ''Christ in Front of Pilatus'', the ''Flagellation'', the ''Coronation of Thorns'', the ''Via Crucis'' and, finally, the ''Crucifixion''. In the sky around the cross are a flying angel and a devil, with a red halo around his head, who is drawing

Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betraye ...

's soul away. Judas is also visible hanging at the mountain's right edge, while a man is pointing at him. BoschTheEpiphanyTriptychRightPanelDetail1

BoschTheEpiphanyTriptychRightPanelDetail1

Side panels

The left panel depict St. Peter and one donor, identified with Peeter Scheyfve thanks to the presence of his coat of arms, with the motto "Een voer al" ("One for all"). In the background, a man sits on a basket under a makeshift roofing: he is likely St. Joseph who heats Jesus' diapers. In the right panel is St. Agnes and the eponymous donor, Agnes de Gramme, also accompanied by her coat of arms. In the background, a bear and a wolf attack some people.

Central panel

The central panel shows the

Adoration of the Magi The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, ...

, depicted in accordance with traditional Early Netherlandish iconography. A monumental Mary sits outside a precarious hut, with the Child held at her womb.

Melchior Melchior is the name traditionally given to one of the biblical Magi appearing in the Gospel of Matthew. There are many notable people with this name, or close variations. As a first name * Melchior Anderegg (1828–1914), Swiss mountain guide * ...

, the eldest of the Magi, is kneeling at her feet, with his gift before him: a sculpture of gold with the Sacrifice of Isaac, a forecast of Jesus' Passion. Below the object are several toads, symbols of heresy. Melchior's crown lies on the ground, an allusion to the powerlessness of earthly power against the celestial. Jheronimus Bosch 113

Caspar stands to the rear, with a depiction of the Visit of Queen Sheba to Solomon on his mantle. He brings frankincense on a vessel. Finally, the last of the Magi, the dark-skinned Balthazar, has white garments decorated by an embroidery resembling thorny leaves: brings a spherical pix whose reliefs depict the Offer of Water to King David, and which contains myrrh. Balthasar is accompanied by a dark-skinned servant. An unusual element is represented by the partially naked figure at the hut's entrance, surrounded by other grotesque ones and characterized by a red mantle, a

tiara A tiara (from la, tiara, from grc, τιάρα) is a jeweled head ornament. Its origins date back to ancient Greece and Rome. In the late 18th century, the tiara came into fashion in Europe as a prestigious piece of jewelry to be worn by women ...

with metallic twigs in the hand, and by a wheal at the left ankle, protected by a glass structure. This has been variously interpreted as either another prefiguration of the Passion, or as a symbol of the heresy looming the followers, or as the Judaic messiah which, after having been struck by leper, has become the

Antichrist In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form)1 John ; . 2 John . ...

. Other figures include the shepherds crawling the hut, a traditional element in Italian contemporary Adorations of the Magi; the armies running in the far background and the quasi-anthropomorphic constructions.

Painting materials

The

pigments A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compoun ...

employed by the artist are consistent with his other works. He painted the triptych with ochres,

lead-tin-yellow Lead-tin-yellow is a yellow pigment, of historical importance in oil painting, sometimes called the "Yellow of the Old Masters" because of the frequency with which it was used by those famous painters. Nomenclature The name lead-tin yellow ...

vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It i ...

, carmine and

azurite Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France. The mineral, a basic carb ...

. The sole rather unusual pigment is natural

ultramarine Ultramarine is a deep blue color pigment which was originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. The name comes from the Latin ''ultramarinus'', literally 'beyond the sea', because the pigment was imported into Europe from mines in Afg ...

used in small quantities in Virgin's robe.Hieronymus Bosch, The Adoration of the Magi (Madrid)
ColourLex

References

Sources

* *Fra Jose de Siguenza, History of the Order of ST. Jerome, 1605(Extract translation) in Bosch in Perspective, edited by James Snyder, 1973, USA *Marianne Renson, Genealogical Information Concerning The Bronchorst Boschuysen triptych, 2001, Rotterdam *Xavier, Duquenne, ≪ La famille Scheyfve et Jerome Bosch ≫, L’intermediaire des genealogistes, janvier-fevrier 2004, p. 1-19 *Matthijs Ilsink, Jos Koldeweij, ''Hieronymus Bosch: Painter and Draughtsman'' – Catalogue raisonné, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2016, pp 198–215.

External links

Page at the museum's official website

Hieronymus Bosch, ''The Adoration of the Magi'' (Madrid)
ColourLex {{DEFAULTSORT:Adoration of the Magi (Bosch, Madrid) Paintings by Hieronymus Bosch 1480s paintings 1490s paintings Bosch Paintings of the Museo del Prado by Dutch artists