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Source Description
The drawing is a print design made to be translated to a copperplate in the city of Antwerp in the late 16th century. De Vos’s closely cropped composition brings the three magi as well as Joseph into close contact with the seated Virgin and Child. The elaborate vessels carried by the magi, including a footed nautilus cup, a silver dish, and what could be a coconut cup, are the types of exotic treasures that would have been collected by Antwerp’s wealthy inhabitants signifying their contact with foreign lands. The magi furthest back is portrayed as African, a not uncommon but by no means universal interpretation of the magi’s origins.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
371381
label
Adoration of the Magi
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
371381
contentType
drawing
title
Adoration of the Magi
description
The drawing is a print design made to be translated to a copperplate in the city of Antwerp in the late 16th century. De Vos’s closely cropped composition brings the three magi as well as Joseph into close contact with the seated Virgin and Child. The elaborate vessels carried by the magi, including a footed nautilus cup, a silver dish, and what could be a coconut cup, are the types of exotic treasures that would have been collected by Antwerp’s wealthy inhabitants signifying their contact with foreign lands. The magi furthest back is portrayed as African, a not uncommon but by no means universal interpretation of the magi’s origins.
date
c. 1590
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q84279684
creators
23209
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 20.3 x 15.9 cm (8 x 6 1/4 in.)
cul
South Netherlands, 16th century
accession
2019.232
Source extras
tec
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash; traces of transfer
tombstone
Adoration of the Magi, c. 1590. Maarten de Vos (Flemish, 1532–1603). Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash; traces of transfer; sheet: 20.3 x 15.9 cm (8 x 6 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund, 2019.232
collection
DR - Dutch
didYouKnow
In this depiction of the adoration of the magi, the magi furthest back is portrayed as African, a not uncommon but by no means universal 16th-century interpretation of the magi’s origins.
citations
citation
Peters, Emily J., Laura Ritter, William Griswold, Klaus Albrecht Schröder, and Koenraad Jonckheere. Tales of the City: Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel. Cleveland, OH : Cleveland Museum of Art, 2022.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 170-171
citation
Lovelace, Carrie. “A Tradition of Endowment: History, common questions, and details.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>vol. 62, no. 4 (December 2022): 28-29.
page_number
Reproduced: P. 29.
creditline
Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:57:28.589000
sourceId
371381
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - Dutch
med
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash; traces of transfer
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
4fa06d45dc9f6c3a