Adoration of Magi. The Adoration of the Magi is a very large oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens.
He first painted it in 1609 and later gave it a major reworking between 1628 and 1629 during his second trip to Spain. It is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
It is one of many works on the subject by Rubens-others include those of 1616-17 and 1624. Towards the end of 1608 Antwerp was preparing to receive the peace delegates negotiating an end to the war between Spain and the Dutch Republic.
Their negotiations were to be held in Antwerp City Hall between 28 March and 9 April 1609 and resulted in the Twelve Years' Truce. Hopes were high for the talks and for the renewed economic prosperity that peace or a truce would bring-Antwerp was a major commercial centre and it was in crisis due to the Dutch blockade of the city.
The city council decided in early 1609 to commission a painting for the Statenkamer, in which the negotiations would be held, and to choose Rubens for the commission, due to his first-hand experience of Italian art. He had returned to Antwerp and was already the city's most notable painter. He was paid 1,800 florins for the commission. The theme of the commission was an allusion to the benefits the city hoped to gain from peace. There is a sketch for the work in Groninger Museum in Groningen, as well as several preparatory studies, including Head of a black
He first painted it in 1609 and later gave it a major reworking between 1628 and 1629 during his second trip to Spain. It is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
It is one of many works on the subject by Rubens-others include those of 1616-17 and 1624. Towards the end of 1608 Antwerp was preparing to receive the peace delegates negotiating an end to the war between Spain and the Dutch Republic.
Their negotiations were to be held in Antwerp City Hall between 28 March and 9 April 1609 and resulted in the Twelve Years' Truce. Hopes were high for the talks and for the renewed economic prosperity that peace or a truce would bring-Antwerp was a major commercial centre and it was in crisis due to the Dutch blockade of the city.
The city council decided in early 1609 to commission a painting for the Statenkamer, in which the negotiations would be held, and to choose Rubens for the commission, due to his first-hand experience of Italian art. He had returned to Antwerp and was already the city's most notable painter. He was paid 1,800 florins for the commission. The theme of the commission was an allusion to the benefits the city hoped to gain from peace. There is a sketch for the work in Groninger Museum in Groningen, as well as several preparatory studies, including Head of a black
Wikipedia ...