The Adoration of the Magi

These eight woodcuts (1959.99.8-15) progress from Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would bear the Son of God, to the events of her early motherhood and beyond. This included the joy of sharing her pregnancy with her cousin Elizabeth, Jesus’s birth, and the subsequent arrival of the magi. After Jesus’s circumcision and presentation at the temple the Holy Family fled to Egypt to avoid Herod and stayed there for several years. The seemingly out of place last scene shows a glimpse of their daily life in Egypt as Joseph continues his carpentry and Mary spins wool. The Holy Family is surrounded by angels and helpful putti and are blessed by God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove overhead.

A vertically oriented woodcut in dense black-inked lines depicts people with light skin tones gathering around baby Christ among stone ruins. Mary, a woman in a hooded cloak, sits on our right holding the nude infant. Bearded Joseph stands behind her. Three Magi approach from our left; one kneels centrally holding an ornate vessel. Three winged child figures hover in the top right, while a glowing star shines above a thatched roof.

The Adoration of the Magi

c. 1501–1503

Albrecht Dürer

(German, 1471–1528)

Germany, early 16th Century

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