Adoration of the Magi

Art Historical Context

Nestled in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this intimate 16th-century Italian drawing, *Adoration of the Magi captures a timeless biblical scene. Created anonymously by an Italian artist, it depicts the three wise men paying homage to the Christ Child, a motif central to Renaissance religious art. The circular format, or tondo, with a modest diameter of just 21/2 inches (6.4 cm), suggests it was designed for a collector's album or as a preparatory study, evoking the devotional intimacy of the era. Executed in pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash, the wo...