The Adoration of the Magi

Michael Lucas Leopold Willmann has taken up a theme that has been popular in European painting for centuries. He has also preserved the traditional age differentiation of the kings' figures, who belong to three generations. They are a young man in a turban, a man of age with a crown on his head and a kneeling older man who puts the insignia of his power at the Madonna's feet. Although the painting was made in Silesia, it shows close connections with Italian Baroque painting, and its composition was faithfully reproduced following Carl Maratta's graphics. The colour scheme is Willmann's solution: the colourful group of figures in the foreground contrasts with the brown, almost monochromatic background. The texture is also differentiated in his characteristic way – broad brush strokes in some parts of the robes and small, broken ones in the complexion and facial features. Willmann is highly esteemed during his lifetime while being called the Silesian Apelles, Rembrandt, Rubens or Raphael, and he also enjoys recognition today.