Description:
The fifth plate from the series of six (1593-94); Matt. 2:9-11. Latin verses by F. Estius
Label Text:
Marginal Latin text by Franco Estius:
E oi Reges Bethlen duce sydere ducti, / Poplite submisso, posito Diademate, adorant / Deserto puerum in stabulo, et pia munera promunt / Thuris odorati, Myrrheque, et divitis auri. F. Estius
The Magi from the East follow the star to Bethlehem, kneel and throw down their crowns; they worship the boy in the secluded stable and present their pious gifts of fragrant incense, myrrh and costly gold.
Goltzius here drew from two of Lucas van Leyden’s engravings, "The Adoration of the Magi" of 1513 and "Esther before Ahasuerus" of 1518. Even though Lucas’s "Adoration" is one of the few large, horizontal prints he produced, it nonetheless remains more modest in size compared with Goltzius’s vertical reinterpretation. From it, Goltzius imitated some elements, including Joseph at the left, the fanciful plumed hats worn by background figures, and the face of the bearded Magus, standing in Lucas’s print and kneeling in Goltzius’s variant. The vertical format, background and architecture he instead drew from Lucas’s "Esther." Goltzius further imitates Lucas’s linear technique, especially in its delicate, more uniform line. In order to keep his plates fresh, Goltzius engraved his lines deeply, but used gray ink in his early impressions to achieve Lucas’s pale tonality. Like the "Circumcision," Goltzius successfully presented his "Adoration of the Magi" as a lost Lucas.
(Susan Anderson, Ph.D., interim Mellon Coordinator of College Programs, 2009)
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+1979.46.5 |
