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The Adoration of the Kings

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Jan Brueghel seems to have squeezed a whole world into his tiny picture. A crowd waits patiently for a turn to come closer to the little child on his mother’s knee. The baby is bare, to show us that he’s a real human baby, but the silvery arrow of light tells us something more. The old man kneeling is a king. He wears no crown and neither do the kings on either side of him. It’s the child that wears the true crown – a delicate halo that would outshine any earthly crown, for it announces him as the Son of God. Brueghel’s delicate picture was painted in body colour (watercolour which is mixed with white pigment to make it opaque) on vellum and was made to be handled. It was a talking point but also a reminder of a great religious event.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

The Adoration of the Kings

Date

1598

Medium

Bodycolour on vellum

Measurements

H 32.9 x W 48 cm

Accession number

NG3547

Acquisition method

presented by Alfred de Pass, 1920

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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