This image has a relatively simple composition as compared to many of Mantegna's works, setting the busts of five figures around the baby Jesus, set against a completely dark background. To the left, Mary holds up the newborn Christ, a subject of adoration for the "magi" or wise men to the right. The magi hold gifts of incense and gold for the infant as they kneel before him. The painting offers a more intimate, close-up representation of its subject-matter than others by Mantegna, and an unusually vibrant color palette. 

This work is tempera on linen and it is in the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California

The story of the birth of Jesus, representing both the origins of Christianity and a more general theme of salvation, was a very potent one in Renaissance culture and art, and there were numerous representations of this scene which predate Mantegna's. However, Mantegna's is unusual in its allusions to alien and exotic cultures, references which were significant in Mantua at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries given the presence in the city-state of a Jewish population that was often scapegoated and ostracized. The three wise men - who in the original story have traveled from 'the East' - have darker skin tones than the pale and rosy-cheeked infant and virgin. The color variation in the clothing of the magi adds to their exotic characterization, with Mary and Jesus offset by paler dress.

These images of racial variation - like the age differences between the magi - may suggest the unifying quality of salvation. The baby Jesus thus acts as a sort of priest to the visiting sages, raising his hand as if sanctifying each with his blessings. Through such details, we may feel from a contemporary perspective that Mantegna is suggesting both the personal and the universal nature of spiritual redemption. The close-up perspective of the work enhances the impression of a series of individual experiences bound by the overall quality of salvation, as do the differently oriented body positions of the Magi. The unusual perspective also seems to place us in the company of the group, as if we can partake in the scene of devotion.