The Adoration of Magi

Peter Brueghel, the Elder, addressed the theme of the gospel three times in his artistic career. Art historians believe that all three paintings of the same name are part of a series. None of these works show the scene with the splendor or idealization of the subjects considered appropriate in the Catholic orthodoxy of the day. The first was painted between 1556 and 1562 and is very poorly preserved. The second version, dated 1564, is exhibited at the National Gallery of London. Bruegel used a relatively common style of Catholic iconography in these paintings. The center is the Holy Family surrounded by a jumble of other images. This picture is painted in warm colors to show the contrast between the figure of the Madonna and the environment, being a compositional center.

This work is linked to Matthew 2:11.  Its original size was 48″ х 66.5″ inches, and currently it is in Brussels at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts.

Bruegel is considered the greatest Flemish painter of the 16th century. His landscapes, with vibrant and often witty scenes of peasant life, are particularly renowned. Since Bruegel signed and dated many of his works, his artistic evolution can be traced from his early landscapes, in which he shows affinity with the Flemish 16th-century landscape tradition, to his last works, which conform to a more Italian stylistic genre. He exerted a strong influence on painting in the Low Countries; the coastal region of Northwestern Europe. Through his sons Jan and Pieter, he became the ancestor of a dynasty of painters that survived into the 18th century.