"The Adoration of the Kings"

Gerard David was an Early Netherlandish painter and manuscript illuminator known for his brilliant use of color.  David's surviving work mainly consists of religious scenes. They are characterised by an atmospheric, timeless, and almost dream like serenity, achieved through soft, warm and subtle colourisation, and masterful handling of light and shadow.

The Adoration of the Kings is a painting in oil on panel, probably from after 1515, now in the National Gallery in London (NG 1079). The painted surface measures some 60 by 59.2 centimetres (23.6 in × 23.3 in), and the panel is about 2 centimetres (0.79 in) larger in both dimensions. The panel comes from a dismantled altarpiece from which one other panel appears to survive, the Lamentation that is also in the National Gallery.

David's treatment is relatively simple and restrained, with the five main figures occupying most of the picture space, and none of the angels who are prominent in most of the many other depictions of the Nativity. As very often, the Adoration of the Shepherds is here conflated with that of the three kings. Behind the king on the right two of the shepherds kneel, and behind them three heads from the royal retinues wear exotic turbans. Another figure in a turban stands in shadow some steps up the staircase in the tower at left, cut off at the edge of the paint, this is "clearly Saint Joseph".

The traditional ox and ass are not in the main scene, but can be seen through the ruined wall above the foremost king's head, respectively sitting and grazing on a patch of grass. There is a view of a section of the suburbs of Bethlehem visible at the centre, and to the right the imposing walls and skyline of the town itself.