Adoration of the Magi (c. 1500–1525): Art, History and Details

Adoration of the Magi (c. 1500–1525) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Giulio della Torre (Italian, c. 1481–before 1563).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Figures leading livestock descend the winding rocky landscape in the background while in the foreground, a crowd gathers before the Holy Family. The traveling figures compose the majority of this plaque, communicating the haste and urgency on their journey to see Christ. Above the Holy Family, a rustic hut creates a canopy. The Madonna and Child sit prominently at the right on a Renaissance bench, receiving the Three Kings. The first king kneels as the Christ Child bends to accept the gift. Joseph stands cross-armed behind the Madonna with two winged angels at his side. Behind him are the heads of an ox and an ass, traditional elements of nativity scenes. To the left three children play while a youth leans on a pagan altar. The torso of an ancient sculpture lies on the ground before it, demonstrating that Christ has come to replace the ancient gods. This low-relief plaque was once believed to have been destroyed in 1914 but is now thought to have been a part of the Count W. Pourtalès collection in St. Petersburg, Russia. Adoration of the Magi resembles a 1506 relief by Riccio made for the Easter Candle in the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua.

Object facts

• Title: Adoration of the Magi
• Date: c. 1500–1525
• Creator attribution: Giulio della Torre (Italian, c. 1481–before 1563)
• Culture: Italy, first quarter 16th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 23.5 x 31.9 cm (9 1/4 x 12 9/16 in.)
• Collection: Sculpture
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1954.601

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Milliken, William M. “‘The Adoration of the Magi’ by Riccio.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 42, no. 1 (January 1955): 10–12. Published as attributed to Riccio
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.