Adoration of the Magi

Artist:: Southern Germany or Austria

Date:: ca. 1235–50

Culture:: Southern German or Austrian

Medium:: Tempera and gold and silver leaf on parchment

Dimensions:: 6 9/16 x 5 3/16 in. (16.7 x 13.1cm)

Classification:: Manuscripts and Illuminations

Credit Line:: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975

Accession Number:: 1975.1.2482

Not on view

This leaf was detached from a psalter (now in the Universitätsbibliothek, Innsbruck, Austria). Psalters contain the Book of Psalms, often supplemented with other devotional material. As is the case with many manuscript illuminations of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the artist’s name is not preserved. His style is characterized by a preference for red, blue, and green and by a delicate use of red paint to create shadow on the faces, necks, and hands. Here, the Virgin and child are seated upon a throne as the magi approach.

Marking: Pasted on the verso, a stamp bearing the imprint of the French customs: DOUANES DE PARIS (rest of stamp illegible)

Sale, Steinmeyer, Lucerne, 1921 (?); [Bernard d'Hendecourt, Paris]. Acquired by Robert Lehman from D'Hendecourt in about 1923

Sandra Hindman, Chicago, Mirella Levi D'Ancona, Pia Palladino, and Maria Francesca Saffiotti. "Illuminations." Robert Lehman Collection. IV, New York, 1997, p. 2-11, No. 1.

Timelines
Central Europe (including Germany), 1000–1400 A.D.

The Robert Lehman Collection. Vol. 4, Illuminations

Department

Robert Lehman Collection (2,589)

Artist / Maker / Culture

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Object Type / Material