Artworks
European, viceregal & Asian art
Adoration of the Magi
Unidentified artist, New Spain, Second half of the 18th century, proposed dating
Enconchado: painting with mother-of-pearl inlay on panel
55 × 78 cm
The Magi approach the Christ Child in a richly populated scene framed by classical architecture and an arriving procession. Its composition belongs to the family of Rubens's Adoration of the...
The Magi approach the Christ Child in a richly populated scene framed by classical architecture and an arriving procession. Its composition belongs to the family of Rubens's Adoration of the Magi disseminated through Lucas Vorsterman I's engraving of 1621. Mother-of-pearl inlay lends changing brilliance to garments and architectural details, working together with drawing and colour. This New Spanish enconchado joins European pictorial models with the material richness of a distinctive viceregal technique.