The Adoration of the Magi (c. 1545): Art, History and Details

The Adoration of the Magi (c. 1545) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jean Mignon (French, active c. 1535–55); Luca Penni (Italian, 1500/04–1557).

The work and its context

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

Printmaking at Fontainebleau flourished briefly during the 1540s and seems to have stopped altogether by 1547. Jean Mignon was one of the four major etchers whose works are most closely associated with the workshop there. Almost all of Mignon's prints reproduce drawings by Luca Penni (1500/4–1557), an Italian painter active at the chateau. The elegantly elongated figures reflect the influence of Italian Mannerists, especially Parmigianino.

Object facts

• Title: The Adoration of the Magi
• Date: c. 1545
• Creator attribution: Jean Mignon (French, active c. 1535–55); Luca Penni (Italian, 1500/04–1557)
• Culture: France
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Dimensions: Sheet: 31.2 x 42.3 cm (12 5/16 x 16 5/8 in.); Secondary Support: 32 x 43.1 cm (12 5/8 x 16 15/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1989.41

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• E. H. T. “The Year in Review: Selections 1989.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 2 (February 1990): 38–78.

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.