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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.
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
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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