Adoration of the Magi (England)
Object type | Painting |
Genre | Religious |
Date | ca. 1598 |
Dimensions | 25.5 x 34.6 cm |
Support | Copper |
Medium | Oil |
Our attribution | Produced in Jan Brueghel's Studio |
Other authorities | Ertz 2008-10, #227 as Jan and studio |
Location/Most Recent Sale | England, Private Collection |
Tags | Resting, Horse, Bridge, House, Pieter Bruegel, River, Burghers, Children, Soldiers, Christ, New Testament, Virgin Mary |
A close variant of Vienna and London paintings which is now accepted by Ertz but it's just not consistent. Some of the figures are really good (the crowd is lively and interesting) and others are awful--like, actually the 3 kings are all terrible, as if the artist just wasn't interested. A good example of a studio piece: executed alongside or shortly after autograph ones, possibly with some intervention of the artist but not a fully autograph, first-rate piece. Also it's not a direct copy--the space where the crowd gathers on the left is not so good (they are too isocephalic) and the middle- and background don't repeat any other version exactly. You have a sense that there were drawings around that were mixed and matched.