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The Adoration
of the Magi, dated (on pilaster): [15]26 This intentionally claustrophobic composition is a paradigmatic expression of the ambitions of the first generation of Renaissance painters in Antwerp. The scene is viewed up close, with half-length, gesticulating figures separated from the viewer by a fictive ledge. Finely wrought goldsmith work—such as was actually produced in Antwerp—abounds. The prettiness of the Virgin and Child and the caricature-like features of the Magi and their retinue evince Massys’s interest in physiognomics and the principle of contrasts as expounded, for example, by Leonardo da Vinci. His focus on these concerns made Massys one of the outstanding portraitists of the early sixteenth century.
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