Epifania

This painting portraying the Adoration of the Magi, or Epiphany, is certainly the fruit of one of the workshops active in Antwerp, on the first half of the 16th century. It is an impressive work of art which represents the quality products that were destined to the foreign markets, in this case the Portuguese and the Spanish. Despite the very precise strokes, and good treatment of the figures and landscape, it does not escape the stereotypes that were favoured amongst the pious population of the period. The figures of the Virgin and Baby Jesus, adored by two of the Magi, stand out, and, right behind, the painter placed the other Magi and a figure of the entourage. There is a conventional landscape, still tied to the tradition of the 1400s. This is a piece of art from the mature phase of the Renaissance in Antwerp, and it is already possible to note the rising Maneirism, from the posture of the figures and the colours. It was paintings like this, more than those who left the workshops of the great masters, expensive and rare, who were available to the Portuguese painters of the 1500s and which have greatly influenced them.