By Limbourg brothers
(b. 1370-80, Nijmegen, d. 1416, Nijmegen)
Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry

c. 1416
Manuscript (Ms. 65), 294 x 210 mm
Musée Condé, Chantilly
 

The picture shows the illumination depicting the Adoration of the Magi.

The pages depicting the Adoration of the Magi and Meeting of the Magi typify the most sumptuous and elegant qualities in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, with the elaborately costumed Magi and their colourful entourages, complete with dromedaries and cheetahs, converging on the rickety stable in Bethlehem to pay homage in the decorous manner of court etiquette.

In the Adoration, Mary attended by six charming maidens, sits frontally to the left while her nude infant blesses the eldest Magus kneeling before him. The elegant composition with its rich surface pattern and bright colours was to become a standard formula for the Adoration of the Magi, north and south, replacing the more simplified versions in which only the three kings appear before the stable.